Take a moment to think about the best event you’ve ever been to. Whether it was concert, a local 5K or a music festival, it’s safe to assume you remember the event’s theme, tone, logo or all of the above. That’s the power a marketing package has. The graphic designer of said favorite event most likely worked on messaging and tone preferences with the event planner, consultants and social media managers to ensure there was an overarching theme and a specific mood they hoped they evoked among attendees.
This week, my goal was to tackle a marketing package for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, a world-renowned attraction where attendees of all ages can celebrate ballooning. As my first step, I researched their current branding and then looked into what they had done the last five to seven years.
I learned that rather than call it by its full name “Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta,” they often refer to it as just Balloon Fiesta or #BalloonFiesta on social media. Every year they promote a new slogan and because they’re celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, that is the theme for 2022. For the most part, the majority of their brand packages have utilized actual photography rather than graphics, which allows their branding to be incredibly visual and colorful.
When brainstorming where I was taking my marketing package, I knew that I didn’t want to use blue as the color of the sky as that would be too obvious. So, I sketched out a rough idea of what I was imagining and included notes about colors I wanted to use, as well as shapes, layout and composition.
After my ideas began to take shape, I pinned down six categories— and a few subcategories— I knew I had to tackle:
1. Poster
2. Flyer
3. Facebook banner
3a. Facebook thumbnails
4. Instagram posts
5. VIP invite
6. T-shirt design
6a. T-shirt mockups
Poster/Flyer
The first thing I designed was the poster as I knew I’d have the most fun with it since posters tend to be more visual. It is not text-heavy, only utilizing important details like the name of the event, the date, cost, location and website details. I wanted to feature several hot air balloons, but not be too overwhelming so I opted to use different sizes and colors. I used a gradient that transitioned from purple to yellow to signify a sky at sunset and chose a font that featured rounded Os and As to accentuate the roundness of a hot air balloon.
I then created the flyer, which took me the longest to create. After several attempts, I ended up with about five different variations.
Flyers tend to have more details and descriptive information, which is why I wanted to balance the text with hot air balloon graphics. While it keeps the same theme as the first poster, the gradient isn’t as heavy. The hardest aspect to incorporate seamlessly was the bullet points with the main events.
Event invite
The next item I designed was the VIP invitation because I would be utilizing the same theme as the poster and flyer. The invitation includes the same gradient, but a more elegant font. Rather than incorporate several colorful hot air balloons, I featured one hot air balloon that was a single color, giving it a more elegant look. The only information included on the invite is the name of the event, date, time and a brief description of what special VIP guests can expect.
Social Media
Because this is a large public celebration, having social media collaterals is vital to the success of the event. I created a Facebook banner and three different variations of event thumbnails. They all keep in line with the theme and are simple, yet distinct enough to stand out. The banner, like the flyer, only has the needed information, only it is horizontal instead of vertical. Since profile pictures are small, especially when seen on a cell phone, I only included one word of text on each of the thumbnails.
With Instagram, strong photos are key so I used three eye-catching photos and very little text to ensure the visuals were the stars of each post. I hunted down photos that had negative space so I could incorporate the copy there. Because you can’t incorporate hyperlinks on Instagram, I made sure to include the website clearly on the graphic.
T-Shirt
I am someone who will always buy a shirt at whatever event I attend because they’re easy to travel with and will eventually use them as a pajama top if I’m not a huge fan of the design or fit. I personally am not a fan of the date on a t-shirt because after a while, it feels strange to wear a shirt out in public that’s seven years old. So rather that include the date on the t-shirt, I opted to use the date the date the Balloon Fiesta started, which also works this year as it is the 50th anniversary.
The design on the shirt is simple, only utilizing one hot air balloon the name of the event. I curved the top half of the name as to make the graphic itself look like a hot air balloon. I created mockups to test the design on different colored t-shirts, styles and sizes.
Wrapping up
Packaging an event for marketing purposes will definitely have one’s work cut out for them, but it’s extremely rewarding to come up with a plan, theme, color scheme and design elements for different mediums. When you understand why each one is needed and how it should be utilized, it helps with the overall picture.
Though this was a tough task as a result of all the elements involved, it was definitely one of my favorites to see through as this is something I need for my line of work. It was fun getting to experiment more with Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign and ensuring I was using each one as much as I could.