Open Engaement Conference
I was the Design Director for an itinerant, annual conference on art and social practice. Open Engagement was a very special place for an international convening of socially-engaged artists every year. I could gush about its impact, but I’ll focus on the design stuff here.
I led a small team of designers and interns. Each year we re-imagined the visual identity system for a new location and theme, with an eye towards friendly, playful hand-made aesthetics and DIY methods of production. Our shoestring budget encouraged us to utilize the constrains of the copy shop: black ink on colored paper, a single spot-color for our newsprint-catalog. Our environmental graphics were large-scale black-and-white plotter prints from the copy shop.
I also supported the conference’s publishing imprint, OE in Print, and various visioning / pitch deliverables for the Executive Director to use to secure partners and funding.
Role
Design DIrector
2011–2017
Core collaborator
Sarah Baugh
Team
Taryn Cowart, Zack Franceschi, Nicole Bittner, Lea Loo
2011
Portland
2012
Portland
2013
Portland
2014
Queens
2015
Pittsburgh
2016
Oakland
SKILLS
Leadership
team of 2-3 designers and interns
Brand and identity system
wordmark, typography, imagery, color
Communications
letterhead, business cards, press releases
Website
UX/UI, Wordpress, multi-contributor blog, registration
Print
call-for-submission poster, postcards, fliers, brochures, print ads
Digital
ads, blog graphics
Social
graphics and campaigns
Swag
buttons, totes, nametags/lanyards, pencils, pocket notebooks
Environmental graphics
supergraphics, vinyl, on-site wayfinding
Publication
conference catalog, books
Slide presentations
keynote speakers mainstage, workshops, visioning / funding pitches