A few months ago I was approached by the Starnes Group to design a campaign identity for the SpeakUp College Tour presented by Kyros Entertainment. The tour is designed to present brands such as Tyndale, Nav Press, LifeWay, Intervarsity, CCM, One campaign, The House Studio, Kerusso, Provident, EMI, Light Gives Heat, and more to students at Christian colleges.

Landing Page for the Speak Up Tour
Landing Page for the Speak Up Tour

Although a logo design wasn’t part of the original proposal I felt that we needed an identifiable mark for recognition. Prior tour graphics, while very cool and progressive, felt a bit dated. I began researching display typefaces that were distinct with a hand-drawn feel. I discovered Sketchetica which is just a fun, drawn version of Helvetica. As I played with the words “Speak,” “Up,” Tour,” and “.com,” I found a tight arrangement that I thought would serve to be eye-catching and memorable. I proceeded to add a little sketch-y vector brush stroke to the type and ended up with a very fun graphic that would serve as a quick logo. I must admit I love bright orange which explains the fire-y flare. This served as a 2 toned color scheme for the campaign.

Next, I needed to set a mood. For some reason, this didn’t take long to decide. I grabbed the nearest Moleskine-like journal and scanned a blank page to get that subtle texture for the background. By incorporating Sketchetica for headlines and a cut-out style banner here and there, I just began placing information in a hierarchy. This became my approach to all pieces. I began with designing the postcard which was to be handed out to students on college campuses. This same mood and feel translated over nicely to the landing and download pages for the web site.

Designing the look of the web site was a lot of fun. Because I’m not a code guy, I usually get overwhelmed by trying to figure out how to put great ideas into HTML, CSS, PHP, and the like. Not so on this project. The Great Steven Peercy was commissioned to program the back end of this simple site which gave me free reign to exercise my creativity. O the delight to see my designs come alive with rollovers, working forms, and smooth functionality!

Although this was a small and quick project, I was given a lot of room for creativity which makes my job a lot of fun. Special thanks to Brock Starnes for excellent management and business acumen. Visit www.speakuptour.com to see the real thing up and running.

Downloads Page of Speak Up Tour's Web Site
Downloads Page of Speak Up Tour’s Web Site

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