The Wardrobe + Tyler GAID
Creating design for three community partner events
The Wardrobe is a non-profit entity dedicated to tackling clothing insecurity in Philadelphia. Their annual events not only generate funds but also provide clothing for the local community. Therefore, it is crucial for their events to have an all-encompassing system and extensive outreach to the public. To accomplish this, the students in Kelly Holohan’s Event Design course at Tyler School of Art & Architecture collaborated with the team at The Wardrobe to design branding for three events: the VIP event, Fashion Dash, and the monthly Open Wardrobe event.
Meet the Team
Shayna Blinkoff, Project Manager – The Project Manager ensures the project gets completed on time and on budget. The project manager will work with the Design Manager and Production Manager to set up a schedule for all of the deliverables and to track the time of all of the designers on your team, this will include implementing a time-tracking system. If you see the workload is imbalanced you will make recommendations to help balance it. You will also work with the Production Manager to work on the budget for the project. Throughout the semester, it will be your job to make sure we are staying on schedule and budget and make adjustments when needed.
Ade Jones, Client Manager – The Client Manager will oversee all communication with the client. Your main job is to ensure the client stays informed and is happy with the final outcome. You will take notes at all meetings and collate the feedback so all team members can understand how to apply it to what they are working on. You will work with the Design Manager and Lead Strategist on a creative brief for the project.
Alyssa Ortiz, Design Manager – The Design Manager will oversee all of the design for the event. You will set up the structure of brainstorming sessions, decide how many concepts each designer will present, and put together the design presentations for review. You will not play the role of Creative Director giving feedback on design, your role is to make sure every concept is fully explored. You will help decide what deliverables everyone on the team will work on, working closely with the Project Manager to ensure the work is being divided up appropriately. You will also work with the Client Manager and Lead Strategist to write what questions need to be asked of your client and work together on a creative brief for the branding.
Zach Haraschak, Production Manager – The Production Manager will ensure the deliverables for the event/s are produced correctly. This will include getting pricing for the production of everything and working with the project manager on the budget. You may be working on the mailing lists for both physical and digital mailings. Another aspect of this job is to review all files for accuracy and keep the job files organized. You will come up with a naming convention that everyone must follow.
Khalia Gilliam, Brand Compliance Manager – This position ensures that the brand elements present on all design components strictly adhere to the brand guidelines (look, feel, tone). The brand compliance manager ensures the content, messaging, and look and feel doesn’t stray from the fundamental brand identity set by the team. To begin, assess The Wardrobe’s current brand guidelines and evaluate consistency for the current fundraising and smaller in-store event. Research similar examples of non-profits and what they do well.
Talia Valenti, Lead Researcher – This person will be the primary researcher for the events themselves. You will research other comparable events, evaluate their past events, and work with your client on the plan for the events themselves. This role will work closely with the lead strategist.
Melissa Polizzi, Lead Strategist – The Lead Strategist will focus on the strategy of the event brand and all other deliverables. You will work with the team to lead the research efforts, analyzing what is found and helping to set the tone of where to go with the brand and each deliverable. This position will also include research for the online presence, if needed, and user experience. This role will work closely with the lead researcher.
Emily McSorley, Copywriter– The Copywriter will be responsible for both creating copy for the project, as well as proofreading. The copywriter will work closely with the design manager. The copywriter also will work on the writing for the Case Study at the end of the project.
Getting Started
Before jumping into the design process, we needed to sort out communication and organization. Our Project Manager, Shayna, created a Slack where we were able to keep in contact throughout the entirety of the project. We also utilized Zoom to meet and check in on each other’s progress when we were not in class. Zach, our Production Manager devised naming conventions for our files, which we allocated to Microsoft Teams. Uploading our files to teams allowed us to seamlessly collaborate on files together. Additionally, Shayna created individual task tracking sheets, as well as a Gantt chart that mapped out a schedule for the entire process.
After getting situated with our communication and organizational systems, it was time to meet with The Wardrobe to get an idea of what their needs were and how we might assist. Ade and Shayna were able to schedule meetings with them throughout the semester. We devised a list of questions to gain a better insight into the organization in advance of our first meeting. Some of our questions included: “If The Wardrobe was a person how would you describe them?” and “How is The Wardrobe reaching communities?” The answers were very insightful and gave us perspective on what our priorities should be throughout the design process. In addition to this meeting, Melissa and Talia researched The Wardrobe, as well as completed a competitive analysis of organizations similar to them to grasp a better understanding of what direction our design approach should take. During our meeting, they provided us with a brief overview of their mission, as well as a presentation that included possible design opportunities. Because this is an Event Design class, we focused on designing for three of their events– The VIP Party, Fashion Dash, and Open Wardrobe. We proposed a list of deliverables based on the client’s presentation and after this was approved, it was time to start designing.
Due to the large scale of these events, we decided to split up into teams for the design exploration. Each member of the team worked on designs for their individual event assignment, in addition to executing the responsibilities of their job title on the overall project.
VIP Party team: Ade Jones, Alyssa Ortiz, Emily McSorley, Shayna Blinkoff & Zach Haraschak.
Fashion Dash team: Khalia Gilliam, Melissa Polizzi & Talia Valenti
Open Wardrobe: Shayna Blinkoff & Emily McSorley
VIP Party
The Wardrobe’s VIP Party is an annual gala that is exclusive to volunteers and intended to raise money. The theme we were given for this year’s VIP Party was “Shine”. Kicking off the design process, the VIP team decided to each curate Initial mood boards (utilizing Miro for collaboration) interpreting the theme of “Shine.” By comparing our mood boards and looking for overlaps in style, our team synthesized two directions in accordance with the theme. These directions included the “Hollywood” approach and the “Celestial” approach.
For the “Hollywood” direction we wanted to play off of the fact that The Wardrobe is an organization that provides clothing by utilizing the textures of luxurious fabrics. More specifically, ones you might see on a red carpet. We also envisioned the use of a jewel tone palette, an understated serif typeface, and an elegant script typeface to reflect the upscale event that the VIP Party is.
For the “Celestial” direction we interpreted the theme of “shine” quite literally and wanted to incorporate stars into our design. However, as the VIP Party is an exclusive event, we needed to figure out a way to expand upon the simple idea of stars. To do so we incorporated gradients, and textures, and played with line. We also chose a display typeface that would make a statement but was still elegant. It was important that all typefaces chosen could be found on Canva, as that is the design platform which The Wardrobe uses. To give the client an idea of what each direction would look like, we made sample deliverables for both approaches and put them into a presentation along with mood boards and style tiles.
First Client Presentation & Visiting The Wardrobe
On the day of our client presentation, The Wardrobe invited our team to attend one of their monthly Open Wardrobes. Fittingly, this particular Open Wardrobe was geared toward College students. This gave us the opportunity to get an understanding of The Wardrobe’s store, and how their in-store events work. They gave us a tour and allowed us to look around and gather information to help us make design decisions.
After touring The Wardrobe it was time to present our VIP Party directions. We thoroughly explained our ideas for each approach and then opened the room for discussion. Although they liked both directions, they felt that the “Celestial” approach best aligned with The Wardrobe and their vision for this year’s VIP fundraiser. During this meeting, the main feedback we received was to make room for their anticipated sponsors.
From there we took note of their critiques and began the design process for the deliverables we deemed the most substantial, which we referred to as our MVP deliverables. The MVP deliverables for the VIP Party included a mailer, in-store flyers, salesforce banners, a give lively banner, a website header, and Instagram posts. These deliverables were the first things that The Wardrobe needed to be finished to send out. To tackle these deliverables we split the work amongst our team. Shayna handled the mailer. Ade Handled the in-store flyers. Zach handled the give lively, sales force, and website header. And Alyssa and Emily took on the Instagram posts. When starting the MVP deliverables, we took into consideration the style tile and sample pieces that were presented previously and tried to integrate the feedback. Although we worked on these separately, it was important that we met and critiqued each other’s work to keep the many deliverables cohesive. To accomplish this, our group met over Zoom to discuss the progress we had made prior to presenting to the entire group. After working together as a small group, we were able to get an outside perspective from the other teams. From there we made our final touch-ups and were ready to create mock ups and a new presentation for our next client meeting. Finding good mock ups was important for our client to truly envision what the design for their event would look like.
Our client meeting to present the MVP deliverables took place over Zoom. During the meeting, we made sure to thoroughly explain our design choices and the overall branding for the VIP Party. Their main feedback was to incorporate the logo more throughout the designs. They also had concerns about the display font being too thin in certain spots, rendering it hard to read. From there it was time for Shayna and Emily to leave the VIP team to start working on the Open Wardrobe. This meant it was up to Ade, Alyssa, and Zach to get started on the final deliverables. The final deliverables included all of the MVP deliverables (Instagram, mailer, salesforce, flyers, GiveLively) along with table tents, wine glasses, bingo hand raisers, presentation slides, a design for text2give, a registration form, and large foam posters to be used during the event.
To rectify the display font concern, the VIP team added a thin stroke to make it slightly bolder. They also added The Wardrobe’s logo mark on every design where it was deemed appropriate. After working on each final deliverable, meeting as a team for changes that needed to be made, and consulting with the other teams for feedback, the VIP team was ready for one last client meeting. The client was blown away by the extensive work that was done and were particularly excited about the candles and wine glasses. The only thing left to do was to make minor text changes.
Fashion Dash
Following suit with the VIP Party team, the Fashion Dash team also created mood boards to prepare two design approaches. The two directions they came up with were “Groovy” and “Movement.” for the “Groovy” direction, they were inspired by loose forms, floral patterns, patterns from the 70s, and vintage fashion in general. The “Movement” approach is based on the idea of the motion that inherently comes with marathons.
Unlike the other teams, the Fashion Dash team had the unique opportunity to redesign the Fashion Dash logo. To approach this task, each of them sketched logo ideas and iterations. These ideas played off of shoes (for running, but also shoes The Wardrobe would have in store), and conveying motion through typography. After asking the class for feedback, the team narrowed their logo down to a type-based logo that conveys motion.
While creating logos for both directions, the Fashion Dash team was also working on sample designs to present to the client. The client meeting took place over Zoom, and they ended up selecting the “Groovy” approach since it was a better way to highlight both the race and fundraising aspect of the event, rather than the “Motion” approach which focused solely on the marathon aspect. Their main criticism was the color palette.
From there it was time to start working on the MVP Deliverables. The MVP deliverables for Fashion Dash were: a logo, Instagram posts, runner bibs, merch (T-shirt, award medal, water bottle, hat, and tote bag), and a salesforce banners/ GiveLively design. These were deliverables we deemed the most substantial and that would be the first impression of the brand.
When working on the MVP the first issue to tackle was the color palette. They switched a pink color in the palette, for an orange color from The Wardrobe’s original palette. This way the overall look for the event would better reflect The Wardrobe’s branding. Next, they needed to find eye-catching mock ups. Mock ups were important for every group to show off designs to the client, but it was even more so important for the Fashion Dash team as they had merch designs that would be difficult to show flat. By placing their designs into mock ups they were able to impress The Wardrobe by showing them what their designs would look like in real life.
After creating mock ups and the rest of the MVP deliverables, the Fashion Dash team was ready for their next client presentation. During the presentation, the client had concerns about the Fashion Dash logo’s placement on the tote bag design and also requested the sponsor’s logos be incorporated into the shirt design.
From there it was time for the Fashion Dash team to move on to their final deliverables. These deliverables included revised versions of the MVP deliverables, the “Fundracer” Toolkit, In-store signage, flyers, and a mannequin sign. The Fashion Dash team completes the rest of the deliverables as well as adjusted the merch based on the client feedback they received. This meant fixing the placement of the logo on the tote bag and placing the sponsor’s logos on the back of the shirt.
Finally, it was time for the Fashion Dash team’s final client meeting. They were thrilled about all of the deliverables and only had concerns about how the design of the toolkit would be impacted once their copy changed. To remedy this we created an editable template for them to maintain the type’s integrity.
Open Wardrobe
After hopping off of the VIP Party team, Shayna and Emily began working on Open Wardrobe. Open Wardrobe is a monthly event that The Wardrobe holds where participants can select free articles of clothing. Every month, the Open Wardrobe addresses a different community. Some of the Open Wardrobes for these communities include Workforce Development, Newcomers & Refugees, Back to School, Breast Cancer Awareness, Recovery & Reentry, LGBTQIA+, College students, prom, and Justice-Involved Women. To start the design process, we first looked at what The Wardrobe was already doing for these events and made decisions on what was working and items that needed improvement. The main problem we found was the amount of information they put on their social media posts, the posts were so packed with information that there was very little room to create hierarchy. One thing we thought was working well was their use of a grid system.
Similar to the other teams, we created separate mood boards and nope boards (design approaches we definitely wanted to avoid) for the Open Wardrobe. From the mood boards, we created two different directions: the “Organic” approach and the “Geometric” approach. The “Organic” approach was inspired by loose shapes, and stickers, bold type with interesting negative space, and a primarily pastel color palette. The “Geometric” direction reinvented the Open Wardrobe’s original grid system, utilizing bold color, bold type, and a set of icons. After coming up with these approaches we created sample pieces and style tiles. We put these along with our initial mood boards into a presentation and were ready to have our first client meeting for the Open Wardrobe.
After presenting both approaches, the client chose the “Geometric” approach, as it had the best readability and was closely aligned with the existing brand. For the Open Wardrobe in particular, readability was super important, as Open Wardrobe participants must be able to easily understand the information provided to them. Working on making the information readable and accessible was the main feedback we received, and something we prioritized once we started working on our final deliverables.
The final deliverables we worked on for the Open Wardrobe included Instagram posts, in-store signage, a flyer, and a calendar poster. We also decided to expand our icon set to create representations of every community the Open Wardrobe serves. By doing so, we were able to increase the understanding of the events by adding visual language. After finishing the deliverables, we shared them with the rest of the teams for feedback. We worked on making each asset as readable as possible by implementing type hierarchy, adding margin space, and making sure the type had enough contrast. We accomplished this by utilizing Adobe’s color contrast analyzer to ensure accessibility. Once we were satisfied with the designs, we put them into a presentation for our final client meeting.
During our final meeting, the client appreciated the time we spent making each deliverable readable. The final request was to create three more icons for the new communities that were not addressed in the previous year.
Rebuilding, File Delivery & Brand Guidelines
After getting the deliverables for each event approved, it was time to hand over deliverables, and brand guidelines. With so many assets, sorting files was not a simple task, but we managed to stay organized through teams. We did however have to rebuild many elements in Canva, as that is the platform The Wardrobe utilizes, and not all of the copy for the events was finalized. Our Brand Compliance Manager, Khalia, created brand guidelines to give to The Wardrobe. The guidelines cover every aspect of The Wardrobe’s initial branding, as well as the new VIP Party, Fashion Dash, and Open Wardrobe branding. Additionally, we had a special surprise for The Wardrobe. We were able to utilize Tyler School of Art and Architecture’s Media Output Center to create 30 vinyl medals for their Fashion Dash event!
Conclusion
Designing for The Wardrobe was an immense learning opportunity for all of us. Through this experience, we were able to gain first-hand knowledge of what it’s like working for a non-profit client to design assets for events. We also learned what it’s like to design with a team, as this was a group effort. Completing deliverables for all three events was a huge task that we would not have been able to complete without help from each other, our instructor, and our client.
Credits
Institution: Tyler School of Art & Architecture
Client: The Wardrobe
Designers: Ade Jones, Alyssa Ortiz, Emily McSorley, Khalia Gilliam, Melissa Polizzi, Shayna Blinkoff, Talia Valenti, Zach Haraschak.
Instructor: Kelly Holohan, Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University
Stock Photography sourced from Adobe Stock
Mock ups by: Adobe Stock, Freepik, and Unblast
