Case Study

Designing For An Event

About 9 months ago, Chris Gunn from Paris Texas contacted me about doing the artwork on an upcoming concert he was putting on called Red Dirt Revolution. He told me that he would need a website done and maybe a couple of print items designed. I could tell from talking with him that he was really passionate about the concert and I was very excited to work with him. I quickly found out that the scope of the project would be a lot greater than originally thought, which I was happy with because it gave me an opportunity to design every aspect of a big event. The following is a look at the process of how designs helped to make the event a huge success.

Logo and Branding

Chris already had a logo, but we quickly agreed that the logo didn’t have a gritty enough feel. I redesigned the logo and gave it more of a dirty but powerful vibe. I knew that it would be going on a lot of materials so it needed to be easily recognizable to the event.

Establishing Web Presence

My next step was to get the event a website where everyone could have a go to place for all of the details and news. I added the flaming acoustic guitar at this step of the design process and decided to put the line-up of performers in the header so at all times the site visitor would know who was going to be at the show. I hosted and designed the site myself and was responsible for every update that went up on the site.

Designing Print and Promo Materials

One of the most important things in making sure your event is a success is advertising. With that being said, I started designing TONS of print items for the show. I designed print and promo items such as Posters, Flyers, Tickets, Backstage and VIP Passes. I tried to stick with a uniform look to all of them so I went with the logo and flaming guitar as the focus and put a backdrop of reddish cracked ground to go along with the event name. Each item greatly added to the buzz and excitement for the event.

Merchandise Design

Now that I had designed the things to get people to the event, focus shifted to designing merchandise for fans to buy at the show. It was here that I decided to change the logo up to give the merchandise items something other than the standard logo since that had been used on all of the print items. I decided to focus the new logo on the RDR acronym and put in some scroll work with the full name. The logo really stood out and helped establish the RDR as another symbol for Red Dirt Revolution which was a goal of Chris’s. It fit perfectly on items such as Kuzies and T-shirts and became the new favorite logo and possible future branding direction for RDR projects. In all I designed probably 8 different shirts for the event and each had different designs and colors for both men and women.

Large Scale Designs

For the concert, there were a few items that I designed that I never have before: Stage Banners and Vehicle Wraps. The design sizes of these are monsters when designing on a computer so it can be a daunting task if you aren’t careful and do the steps properly. The process was fun and easier than I had imagined and the artwork came out great and helped me to add another design aspect to my portfolio. For the stage alone I designed about 5 different banners that was as big as 30ft by 20ft so it is safe to say that I have a thorough knowledge of large scale designing now.

Closing Thoughts

The show was a huge success and I know that all of my work and designs played a huge roll in that. The project allowed me to put my stamp on an event from the inception of the idea to the final outcome. Throughout the process I worked hand and hand with Chris by bouncing off ideas back and forth, making sure that I was adequately making his ideas for the show come to fruition. The project has since enhanced my skill and understanding of branding and marketing, and has brought me a lot of new business. Can’t wait to do it all over again next year for RDR2!