A Party With Art in Columbus

Sami Nummi
Creative Leverage
Published in
3 min readFeb 1, 2016

Seemingly moments after the final glass of champagne, beer or local spirit at 2015 Wonderball had been poured, we were brainstorming new ideas for 2016.

What started as partying with art to raise money for the Columbus Museum of Art’s creative programs has become a night of who’s who in Columbus, Ohio dressed in creative black and white attire.

The identity of the event, created by the Fulcrum Creatives team for both its first and second year, we pinpointed the identity through exploration of high-contrast, abstract op art that visually twists, manipulates and leaves an impression of movement and vibration. This allowed the design team to use endless, versatile design with simple line graphics. This captured what the art museum desired for their event, Wonderball — a sense of wonder.

After an identity was determined and approved by the museum, collaborative efforts by several committees came together to use their resources and business networks to create a unique Columbus experience.

Exciting light projections, stilt-artists, sophisticated finger foods, local coffee, sweets, booze, celebrities, and elaborate costumes.

Versatile op art
Laser cut tokens designed by Fulcrum Creatives, cut by Idea Foundry. The first 250 attendees received one.

Also featured at the event, were the chosen photograph’s from Wonderball’s “Hide N Find” promotional campaign—encouraging the Columbus community to discover their own op art and share on Instagram. Which we then printed onto keepsake tiles and hid around the city, tweeting clues for participants to seek the tiles.

This campaign had perhaps the highest grab rate we have ever seen!

Says Matt Barnes, organizer of Tweet and Go Seek.

Hide and find entries #CMAWonderball

By the end of the night, 1,300 people attended the Wonderball event, which blew our expectations out of the water and the previous year’s attendance of 699. With the new wing just opened this past October, there was not a moment of crowding or claustrophobia.

The main entrance of the Wonderball event.

Check out the event and the interesting people in attendance with #CMAwonderball on Instagram. We are looking forward to next year’s planning — to see and experience its evolution in the future.

Sami is creative director at Fulcrum Creatives. When she isn’t slaying design and copy at work, you can find her enjoying British television and dressing her cat, (Lieutenant Ellen) Ripley in embarrassing costumes.

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Sami Nummi
Creative Leverage

“When you’ve got moxie, you need the clothes to match.”