Create Event & Senior Showcase
My Role: Lead Strategist & Social Media Manager
Create 2021 is the largest networking and portfolio showcase hosted by the Graphic Design department at Tyler School of Art and Architecture, held at the end of the spring semester. Graduates present their portfolios, using Create 2021 as both a showcase of their work and a valuable networking event.
The event is strategized, designed, and organized by a team of 4-6 soon-to-be graduates. In 2021, our team brought Create 2021 online for the first time in our department’s history, creating an experience that went above and beyond the limitations imposed by COVID.
As Lead Strategist, I developed the core campaign concept, “Running the Gamut,” centered on celebrating each student’s unique strengths.
I organized and managed 428 student-submitted assets, created collaborative Excel documents for captions and copy, designed posts in Adobe Creative Suite, and scheduled content across Instagram grid and Stories. I also managed the main account, responding to DMs and inquiries.
In addition, I oversaw project timelines, coordinated campaign launch deadlines, led outreach to industry professionals, and established organized file structures, project numbers, and naming systems to keep the team aligned and efficient.
Summary
The event is strategized, designed, and organized by a team of 4-6 soon-to-be graduates. In 2021, our team brought Create 2021 online for the first time in our department’s history, creating an experience that went above and beyond the limitations imposed by COVID.
A New User Experience
Pandemic Challenges Require Pandemic Creativity
One of the main hurdles that COVID brought to our event was the virtual format, making it difficult to connect with potential candidates on a personal level.
Problem
We asked previous and current students what the biggest hurdle was in 2020. Based on their feedback, we learned that the website’s organizational structure posed a disadvantage online in 2020. It followed an A-Z hierarchy, unintentionally putting those with last names at the end of the alphabet at a disadvantage. As an unintentional consequence by design, interviewers and potential connections might skip over them because they were at the bottom of the page.
In a real-life event, an alphabetical directory would allow interviewers to locate classmates easily. However, in a virtual setting, Create 2021 needed a stage—not just a directory. It was crucial to have a website that was user friendly, inclusive, and purposefully designed to mimic the same robust in-person Create event.
Solution
We wanted to make this show about our classmates and show the world who they were through design; using students’ favorite colors, we built a gamut ordered in RBG to showcase their personality.
Our brand and Create 2021’s identity were directly inspired by our solution to this virtual problem.
Pop-Out
One of the key challenges in designing a non-alphabetical navigation was that we still had to make information easy to find.
Some of our end users such as families, professors, and friends might be more exploratory in their search pattern. In contrast, other users such as hiring managers on lunch break might need to quickly seek out a specific candidate. They don't want to waste time hunting around for illustrators or packaging designers if they're looking for a UX designer.
As a solution, we designed our pop-outs to have quick access to important information
Social Media Campaign
With the average Instagram Story view rate at 1.5 seconds* we knew we had to show a lot of information in a very small timeframe.
- Who each student was
- What was their specialty
- CTA with a link to their portfolio
Stickers
We specifically developed these stickers to help broadcast the array of skills and individual specializations that each student has.
This helps employers easily find and identify a designer that would be the best fit for their roles. For example, if an employer is browsing on @TylerGaid’s instagram story and they’re looking for an illustrator with a lean towards UX UI, they could always reach out to that designer via their instagram or go on our website as well to set up a Calendly appointment.
These stickers also draw attention to how diverse our specializations are- from packaging to motion to UX UI.
Brand Identidy
Brand Pillars
The brand goals were simple:
1. Personality
2. Bold
3. Colorful
Logo
We wanted to make this event about our classmates. We created the gamut of colors over a simple off grain matte black.
Print & Layout
Invitations & layout design that we sent to our invitees.
Don't be shy, say hi!
Note: All of projects on my portfolio are designs that are publicly available and searchable on Google.
If you would like to inquire more about a specific project, such as sketches, storyboards, concepting work,
processes etc, please reach out to me for more information.