Manitoba Disaster Management Conference

MANITOBA DISASTER MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE BRAND & WEBSITE

The Manitoba Disaster Management Conference is one of Canada’s largest disaster management industry events. After running its 29th conference, the board decided it was time to overhaul its current brand and website. I was brought on to complete an entire overhaul of the logo and website. 

BRAND
WEBSITE

LOGO DESIGN & BRANDING

For the MDMC brand, I wanted to develop a type of signature border that could be used to frame information and photos. By using this frame in different applications, you can easily reference the brand without needing the logo to appear on every application, and highlight content important to the conference such as speaker profiles or dates and times.

Below, you can see the different directions I explored when developing this logo.

This frame also subtly incorporates the triangle motif from the original brand (top) in the corners. The choice was made to reduce the main logo to just MDMC, and have the full name only appear when necessary (external items like advertisements). This allows us to shrink the logo down and reproduce it in embroidery or foil printing.

WEBSITE DESIGN

The main reason for the website redesign was to improve usability, organize the information, and give the site a modern, updated feel that was consistent with their new brand. 

I took all the information that already existed on their site, and started from scratch with a full redesign.

I folded all the attendance related items, such as Agenda, Registration and Hotel Info under one page, created a destination for past conference information, photos and brochures, and created a place to fully profile all the featured speakers. The hope is that anyone attending the conference would have all the information they need prior to, during, and after attendance.

Here you can have a bit of an insight into my process, which begins with wireframes that I follow quite closely when building the site.

Napier Consulting Web Design

NAPIER EMERGENCY CONSULTING WEBSITE REDESIGN

Shelley Napier is an experienced and trusted emergency management consultant, and she runs a team of experts through her business, Napier Emergency Consulting. The brand needed an update and a new website to help potential clients understand her expertise and services. 

LOGO REDESIGN

The first step was to take her old logo (left) and update it. Preserving the general layout and the colour scheme, I created a more modern, clean logo for online and branding use. I used this brand to influence the design of the website itself. 

My approach to the design was to create something simple, attractive, and easy to use. I wanted to present her expertise front and centre on the home page, highlight some specific case studies with northern communities, and dedicate a developed section on all the services NEC provides.

You can see below the wireframes developed for the presentation stage of the site, to work through info architecture with the client. 

The old site was mostly text, which obscured important information in walls of copy. I developed comprehensive wireframes before beginning the actual design, in order to have a clear sense of where all the information will go and what photographs and data would still need to be collected. 
I set aside areas of every page to highlight the many testimonials Shelley had gathered, and for CTAs that would send you to the contact page. 

To see the entire live site, visit napierconsulting.ca.

Homestead Hummus

HOMESTEAD HUMMUS BRANDING

Homestead Hummus was developed by a couple of friends one night after the realization that their homemade hummus blew the store-bought stuff out of the water. They needed a brand identity that clearly differentiated them from the other local startups in the same space. 

This company is run by two young entrepreneurs, and I wanted the feel of the branding to reflect this. I looked to craft beer branding as inspiration when developing this identity, wanting something modern and cool. I always wanted a bowl of their hummus to look right at home on a picnic table next to a can of beer and a portable speaker; enjoyed by a group of friends hanging out by the lake.  

Below are some examples of alternate options I presented to the team, after we determined that a stylized bowl of hummus with strong, bold type was the way to go. You will also see the illustrations I developed as secondary elements for the brand. 

I always approach branding with practical applications in mind, and I feel my work on Homestead Hummus makes it clear why. A single logo without support will never create the same unity and clarity that a full brand–complete with colours, type, and secondary illustrations or photography–can. 

Food Propeller

FOOD PROPELLER BRAND & WEBSITE

With 25 years of experience in the food and beverage industry, Roberta Irvine specializes in developing small businesses to the full potential. Her business needed a recognizable brand that speaks to her expertise and specialization. 

BRANDING
WEBSITE

BRANDING

My approach for this branding was to use bright, engaging colour and versatile shapes. I crafted the propeller icon to be abstract enough to avoid the industrial direction it could have headed towards, but still recognizable as a propeller. I didn’t just want potential clients to trust Food Propeller, I wanted them to look forward to working with Roberta as well. 

Once the wordmark was complete, I expanded the logo to three other icons that could be used as secondary elements in branding and layout. All icons use the same shapes and sizes, and show how you can create distinct imagery by simply adding more propeller blades. 

A propeller, the main icon for the brand.

A windmill, to represent industry experience.

A sunflower, to represent a focus on growth.

An orange, to represent expertise in the food space.

Below are some tertiary background elements to add colour and interest to a layout. They were inspired by groups of seeds, which are vital in the food development industry and also can represent growth potential. 

WEBSITE DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT

The Food Propeller website needed to be simple, clear and easy to navigate. The ultimate goal is for a visitor to know within seconds the services Roberta provides and how to contact her. The design of the website reflects this, with a simple call to action and a contact button above the fold. 

The contact page is a simple form that drives a visitor to reach out to Food Propeller directly. I also have a phone number and email address at the very top of the page, and social links in the footer. 

Below, you see how the main page goes on to show a resume of work from Roberta’s career right on the home page, in case the potential client had any doubts about her experience. We get a little more personal on the About page, with a full bio and history of work.

Winnipeg Jets 19/20 Season Marketing

WINNIPEG JETS 19/20 CREATIVE

I worked at True North Sports + Entertainment, the company that owns the NHL team Winnipeg Jets, for over a year. In that time, I worked with the Creative Director and Creative Lead – Hockey to produce a range of digital and print marketing graphics for the team. 

SALES CAMPAIGNS
GAME POSTERS
VIDEO & ANIMATION

TICKET SALES CAMPAIGNS

Our ticketing sales team is always coming up with new promotions, sales and giveaways to encourage sales. For every campaign you see represented here, I would have also created extensive social posts, eblasts, bowl digital signage, web advertisements and print collateral.

COLLECTIBLE GAMEDAY POSTERS

For every home game, we produce a custom poster often featuring a specific player for fans to take home. We are often given a lot of creative control to create whatever we want with these, so I tried to experiment with the brand and push the elements in different directions. 

SOCIAL MEDIA VIDEO CONTENT

At the start of the 2019/2020 season, the Jets revealed their Heritage Blue Jersey. The new (old) jersey would be worn at the 2019 Heritage Classic against the Calgary Flames, and would also hit the shelves for fans to purchase. I created this video, bringing motion to already established photography and brand elements, for our social media campaign and online ads.

The Winnipeg Jets has a strong social media presence, and there has been an effort to post quality, varied content as frequently as possible. For Canada Day, I had the idea to select a few of our Canadian players and highlight their hometowns on a brand appropriate flight map.

This is an example of the type of content we might create between seasons to keep our pages relevant. 

Manitoba Moose 19/20 Season Marketing

MANITOBA MOOSE 19/20 CREATIVE

Manitoba Moose is the AHL team owned by the company behind Winnipeg Jets.  During my time as a graphic designer at True North Sports + Entertainment, my work focused heavily on the marketing needs for the team. Working within the brand, I developed creative for several campaigns, promo events and templates, and adapted my designs for web, print, and in-game digital signage. 

TICKET CAMPAIGN
MINI PACK CAMPAIGN
PROMO GAMES
SOCIAL TEMPLATES

2020/21 SEASON TICKET CAMPAIGN

Each year, during the second half of the hockey season, the Manitoba Moose releases tickets for the upcoming season, along with special offers and benefits for current season seat holders and early bird customers. It’s one of the largest marketing campaigns of the year; we advertise online, in print, and in-game in order to reach the largest and most diverse customer base possible in Winnipeg.

My approach for this creative was to pull all the disparate elements together to create a layout that balances the player, the fans and the text in a visually interesting way that still leaves room for extra body copy without creating a crowded effect. I treated the fan images as a secondary element, to show that the team is the main draw, but the atmosphere and excitement on game day is another major reason to attend. 

MINI PACK CAMPAIGN

At the start of the 19/20 season, we created a Mini Pack campaign to encourage fans to buy tickets in bulk. This also came along in conjunction with our 20th season celebrations, so we decided to lean on this anniversary heavily in the campaign marketing graphics.

I reskinned our website, created static and motion social media posts, and developed a full digital signage package for the bowl to promote this offer.

Each mini pack is carefully chosen to reflect different themes; Weekender featured mostly games on the weekend, Canadiana had us face off against Canadian teams, and Overtime featured the most statistically even matchups . I created social videos to promote each of these packs as distinct from one another to help get the customer excited about their selection. 

SPECIAL PROMO GAMES

The marketing team behind the Manitoba Moose produces a number of promo events throughout the year to encourage ticket sales and sell merchandise. Each of these promotions requires its own creative that is distinct from the regular season look while still representing the team’s branding. For each game, a long asset list is required, from social graphics and digital signage to traditional print ads and billboards, meaning the design needs to be not only engaging and eye catching but also very versatile. 

Above, you’ll see the base creative I developed for the Halloween Game, The Country Music Day, and the 20 Seasons Hat Giveaway, here used as instagram stories. The idea was to give each event its own creative look, employing illustration, texture and imagery that wouldn’t regularly be used. The Hat Giveaway graphics are the most closely associated with our general branding, tweaked just slightly to fit the theme.

The images below show how each event creative translated to the arena bowl on game day, helping to set the atmosphere and further promote the themes.

One of the more popular initiatives in the 19/20 season was the annual Super Hero Day. With an invitation to dress up in costume and a free trip for four on the line, our Super Hero theme resulted in an almost sold out game, a big win for the AHL team. 
For the creative, I chose three of our popular players and developed comic illustrations of them, and incorporated textures such as parchment and halftones to push the visual theme. I also developed an animation inspired by motion comics to promote the event on social media. 

REUSABLE SOCIAL MEDIA GIFS & VIDEO TEMPLATES

The social media and game production teams behind the Moose often need to produce sophisticated graphics on the spot, reacting to lineup and score changes. So, at the start of the season, I developed an extensive library of templates and shareable GIFs for them to use. This way, they’re able to deliver the constant updates necessary while maintaining a consistent brand standard. 

ManyFest 2019 Marketing & On Site Signage

MANYFEST 2019 CREATIVE

ManyFest is a popular festival held each September downtown Winnipeg. The colours and typefaces were carried over from last year, but a good deal of redesigning was necessary to fulfill ManyFest’s needs in 2019 as it expanded to include new events and more real estate. 

The first task was to develop a new website. I worked with a web developer to create the current updated site, with new photography and improved usability. 

One of the big challenges of marketing this festival is the myriad of events and attractions that are involved. One of the ways I decided to tackle this was to develop illustrations to represent the different attractions, such as food trucks, carnival rides, live performances and beer and wine gardens. In addition to the website, billboards, social graphics, motion graphics, and a fold-out printed guide, I also created the way-finding signage to be used at the event.

I also created a short animation to be used on social media and at the event on screens between scheduled events. 

Flatlander’s Beer Fest 2019

Flatlander’s Beer Fest 2019
PRINT | SOCIAL MEDIA  

Flatlander’s Beer Fest is an annual beer tasting festival held in Winnipeg in support of the True North Youth Foundation. I rebranded the festival for the 2019 season, creating illustrations and choosing typefaces and colours to create a look inspired by craft beer artwork.

There was an extensive list of assets required for this, beginning with a city-wide marketing campaign leveraging social media heavily. The decision was made early on to go with a more illustrative style, but the difficult task was developing images that would be able to quickly convey the spirit of the event and be able to be adapted to many different layouts and applications. The wheat stalks and the open fields went with the name (and the location of the event in Manitoba), and the styrenes were meant to appeal to the true beer aficionados. The cheers in the foreground makes it clear that this is a fun, social event that would bring people together over good beer. 

I created the short animation below for social media, television, and online ads. 

A large part of the project was the program, which needed to feature 100+ breweries and their beer lists with tasting tips, along with our sponsors’ advertisements and information about the foundation the event supported. 

For the event itself, tickets, print signage, and digital graphics were needed to brand the event effectively. 

The Lemons – Waiting For A Train Album Package

The Lemons Waiting For a Train Album Artwork
PRINT | BRANDING

The Lemons released their second album in the spring of 2019 and needed artwork that fit their musical style and personality. Drawing from a rich 20+ year band history and the album theme of locomotive travel, I created a full album artwork package.  

I started with the 12″ LP and the corresponding vinyl decals, as they allowed the most room to experiment and develop the ideas. 

Then, I moved inside the jacket to the liner notes, where I reversed the colours to a darker scheme and also incorporated more colour photography of the band. 

When moving to the much smaller CD size, I was presented with some challenges. The biggest difficulty was fitting all the content necessary in a much smaller space while keeping it legible. There was much discussion about which photos to leave, which to remove, and how to ensure the look and feel of the artwork was not compromised. When we decided to go with a jacket style that opened up, that gave us room to add more photography and also fit a larger liner notes booklet. 

The band held a launch party at the Park Theatre in Winnipeg, where t-shirts, buttons, magnets and other merchandise was sold alongside the album itself. 

Palliser Furniture Marketing

Palliser Furniture Marketing
BRANDING | PRINT | DIGITAL

I worked at Palliser Furniture as a graphic designer for over two years, and in that time I created a number of marketing pieces for the company. I was there at a time where the brand was shifting; there was new leadership, new direction, and new marketing to reflect the company’s evolution. 

LOOKBOOK
sleepers brochure
Web design
ADVERTISEMENTS

PRODUCT LOOKBOOK

I developed this lookbook based on Palliser’s Fall/Winter photoshoot and upcoming trends. I wrote the copy, laid out the pages and worked with local print vendors to make decisions on paper type and print run quantities. I wanted this piece to be a helpful guide for our sales reps and retailers to better sell our product, but also as a useful trend guide for the industry as a whole.

SLEEPERS BROCHURE

In the summer of 2018, Palliser decided to pull all sofabed products under a single product line, and marketing was tasked with the communication of this to retailers and end consumers. I developed a new look and new messaging for the Sleepers program that fits with Palliser’s brand but also clearly delineates these products as something different.

WEB DESIGN & EBLASTS

In 2017, the marketing and IT departments embarked on the sizeable task of overhauling Palliser’s website to have a more consumer focused design. I was the design lead for this project, and developed several pages to act as a framework for the new website design. We wanted to implement a good balance of technical product information and broad brand messaging, all with a modern, minimal look.

ADVERTISEMENTS

I produced a number of eblasts while working at Palliser and managed the list of our retailers and industry partners. Often, the focus was an upcoming tradeshow which always coincided with product launches and new retail programs. 

In many ways, the furniture industry is still quite old school, and so we found taking out traditional print advertisements to be very effective in heightening brand awareness among our older clients and customers. These images are select examples of the many magazine ads I produced. 

As a graphic designer at Palliser, I got the opportunity to work closely with marketing directors, interior designers, product managers and web developers to market the product online and on the retail floor.