
JUDGGES PICKS !
City Museum Branding
City Museum is difficult to describe—even with great branding. Part playground, part always-evolving art exhibit, the 10-story building is full of climbable sculptures and interactive exhibits; a bus teeters off the roof and tunnels snake under floors. Much of it is made from discarded materials cities have left behind. And while City Museum attracts visitors and attention from around the world, its brand was outdated and limited. The existing logo had decades of nostalgia tied to it. We kept its essence but reimagined it with updated type and fresh colors. By adding a rectangular box, we gave it context and opportunity for variations. The rectangle symbolizes the building itself, and different versions highlight the exhibits inside (and outside, and on top of). Along with a new color palette and typeface, our team designed brand patterns inspired by some of the textures and motifs found at City Museum. New brand language encapsulates the adventurous, rebellious spirit and inspires visitors to explore. It’s all summed up in the new tagline, “Weirdly wonderful.”
Creative Director: Mike Spakowski
Designers: Beth Bennett, Rosie Linhares & Katie Werges Pour
Copywriter: Julie Rechtien
Account Manager: Erika Cruse
Project Manager: Christen Ringhausen
Financial Field Guide
The Financial Field Guide is designed to raise the basic level of financial literacy for young adults. Using Simple illustrations and bite size explanations as the tools to tone down the intimidation of personal financial concepts. Everyone’s financial situation is different, but the financial terms and concepts at the core of personal money management is knowledge everyone should have. This book is designed to be a starting point for basic money questions and to provide a reader a direction for further research on a topic. Let the Financial Field Guide help guide you and increase your confidence when it comes to making financial decisions.
St. Louis Language Immersion School Branding
The St. Louis Language Immersion School provides a unique approach to education by immersing students in two languages: English and either French, Spanish or Chinese. But despite the incredible benefits of this unique program, many locals weren’t even aware of its existence. The school needed a fresh brand identity to capture parents’ attention and showcase the school’s welcoming and vibrant community. The geometric forms of diacritical marks that tell readers how to pronounce words (like umlauts and accents) inspired the symbols in the new logo. We also pulled color inspiration from the Spanish, French, Chinese, and St. Louis City flags, a nod to the languages taught at the school. To ensure the brand identity was impactful, meaningful and accessible for the entire school community, we invented an original visual language representing words from the school’s mission statement. New brand language included words and phrases students could recite and understand in all the school’s languages. Brand graphics included symbols the students could easily draw. St. Louis Language Immersion School’s brand identity now embodies warmth, vibrancy and possibilities. With the tagline “The Language of Connection,” the school has a rallying cry expressing its mission and benefits. By highlighting the incredible benefits of being bilingual and promoting the school’s welcoming community, the St. Louis Language Immersion School can show how valuable they are to the city.
Creative Director: Mike Spakowski
Designer: Alex Duenwald
Copywriter: Holly Sinclair
Account Manager: Erika Cruse
Project Manager: Christen Ringhausen
WINNERS !
Grand Center Arts District Wayfinding Design
Grand Center Art District is a landmark destination for the arts in St. Louis, Missouri. Nestled between disparate economic areas and a major university, the district needed a cohesive wayfinding system and identity befitting the cultural hub. The project challenge was to encourage engagement and awareness of destinations within the district through a functional wayfinding system. A re-brand had just been done for the district but did not have the associated strategy to accomplish the desired aspirations for audience engagement. The project vision was grounded in a deep discovery process finding that a colorful, vibrant system with iconography was needed to reflect the district’s diverse energy and incredible collection of organizations within the district’s tight footprint. The existing hardscape was dominated by concrete, so color had to be tastefully integrated with signage to brighten the landscape. A street banner system was an effective, cost-conscious way to integrate color, define district boundaries, and create a sense of place. Use of black created a sophisticated base to the system. Once the design template was created, the design team facilitated the conversation about accessibility and fabrication methods to provide changeability. The design team engaged the city’s Office of the Disabled to review and approve all designs. The resulting system has encouraged traffic and engagement within the district for people of all abilities, interests, and backgrounds. With its inspiration taken from music and energy, the Grand Center Arts District signage is a true ensemble experience.
Andy Palombo: Creative Director
Troy Guzman: Designer
James Butler: Designer
Jacob Valier: Designer
Judy Glik: Strategist
Goshen Coffee Brand Identity
Twenty years of masterfully roasted coffee had earned Goshen a loyal following and plenty of potential to expand. What they lacked was a visual identity that resonated with their audience — and a brand idea to inspire it. To help Goshen stand out on intensely competitive retail shelves and draw more visitors to their cafes, we infused unexpected meaning into the brand name. “Goshen” became a symbolic mashup of the words “Good Shit Energy,” and a North Star for the unapologetic and positive vibe of the new brand.
Shannon Levin: Designer & Illustrator
Katy Fischer: Creative Director
Jane Winburn: Account Manager
Brian Hopson: Strategist & Writer
Geoff Story: Strategist
Eric Thoelke: ECD
UNICEF 75 Gala Invitation
To celebrate their 75th anniversary, UNICEF planned to hold a gala in 10 cities simultaneously (as well as online!) premiering a commemorative film about the work that they do. For the invitation, they needed a thematic vision that would create a sense of community and unity across all the different locations. The final product—a firework-filled, gold foil-stamped universal UNICEF theatre. Complete with a logo marquee and a shine that reflected the wave of a searchlight, this invitation was the perfect promo for the film-focused fundraiser.
Designer: Mary Rosamond Kunnath
Creative Director: Cheree Berry Print
Production Artist: Mary Rosamond Kunnath
Account Manager: Kristen Armstrong
Bistro La Floraison
Named one of Sauce Magazine’s best new restaurants in 2022, Bistro La Floraison is the latest endeavor of Tara and Michael Gallina, co-owners of Take Root Hospitality, offering an artfully curated selection of wines, crafted cocktails, and classic French delicacies in the heart of Clayton, Missouri. Bistro La Floraison needed a brand that captured the spirit of their sumptuous menu and romantic dining experience. Using typography from VJ-Type Foundry intertwined with floral drawings by local artist Andy Millner, the brand invites patrons on a whimsical escapade that may just make you blush.
Shannon Levin: Designer
Katy Fischer: Creative Director
Andy Millner: Illustrator
Made in STL
To honor the craft of American metalworking and pay tribute to the man who ran B&C Machine Co. Shot on a digital Leica with available light, we let the machines, workbenches and warehouse tell their own stories. The posters became forever keepsakes for friends and family, even leading to another run of postcard-sized replicas.
Chief Creative Officer: Mike McCormick
Designer: Luke Partridge
Design & Detail: Website Design
Since 2005 Design & Detail has been providing the interior design community with exclusive resources and superior service. They have grown in size and ability to offer designers guidance and individual assistance with their projects. This type-driven website redesign project included a brand refinement, elevating the brand online to the level at which it is perceived in the industry. Featuring an expandable navigation, brand-focused interactivity, and a members-only eCommerce portal, this is a custom-designed and unique experience.
CD, Design: Bob Schuster, Hello And™
Web Development: Eric Elves, Kestrel Co.
Strategy: Lauren Clark, Kestrel Co.
People’s Housing +
For the past decade, local housing advocates and housing professionals have been sounding the alarm about the growing lack of affordability in the city of New Orleans, and the role that stable housing plays in the health and wealth of residents. This year, People’s Housing+ (PH+) was created through a strategic partnership of three NOLA-based community development organizations: Crescent City Community Land Trust, Home By Hand, and Tulane Canal Neighborhood Development Corporation. With more than 40 years combined experience among the merging partners, PH+ is now a one-stop affordable home shop, providing marginalized communities with an affordable pathway to housing, stewardship and multi-generational wealth. Our team developed a brand identity to communicate the new organization’s strategic vision, which came to life print marketing collateral, a launch event poster, banner signage, as well as a new website.
DANIELLE RIDOLFI (Designer), JOHN HENDRIX & DAN ZETTWOCH (Course Instructors & Mentors)
The Anatomy of Caves
The Anatomy of Caves is an informational poster created as part of a graduate illustration studio course. The goal of the project was to condense a complex topic into a digestible and visually engaging format using a combination of both illustration and typography. Given the multitude of caves in the Midwest, I chose to devote the poster to educating children about the different sections or environments within a cave and the creatures they might encounter there. A subsection at the bottom also provides fun facts about specific caves in the United States that a child might be keen to visit in person. I enjoy creating work that educates via design and illustration, but also leads children out from the pictorial world to the tangible world. I believe that the learning graphic design produces is only complete when the viewer actually engages with the objects or places the designed object references. As such, the poster would be ideally suited for use in a classroom, science museum, or even at a state park for educational programs with young children. Formally, I am interested in making work like this poster that explores the intersection of graphic design and illustration given my background and training in both fields.
Theatre In The Raw
In support of the 46th season of The Black Rep Theatre, this poster series promotes all five shows — produced and written by Black playwrights. Committed to creating opportunities for new African American voices, these plays are reimagined to embrace the shared experience of what it’s like to be Black in America, then and now. All posters feature a miniature tabletop theatre and hand-painted wooden characters that are individually cut, constructed layer upon layer and illuminated in vibrant color to celebrate the power of The Black Rep in its rawest form. This is art promoting art.
Chief Creative Officer: Mike McCormick
Director of Design: Kris Wright
Group Creative Director: Kay Cochran
Terra Branding
A local real estate development company was planning a new 300-unit residential building in The Grove neighborhood of St. Louis. The building was being designed with wellness and nature in mind, with amenities like a bike repair area, pool and walking trails. Inspired by both the building design and the geographic location on which it would stand, we landed on Terra, meaning “earth” in Latin, for the building’s name. We developed a logo, color palette and brand pattern inspired by Terra’s juxtaposition of natural landscapes in an urban setting, along with Danish folk art, Scandinavian architecture and geometric shapes.
Creative Director: Mike Spakowski
Designer: Rosie Linhares
Copywriter: Julie Rechtien
Account Manager: Erika Cruse
Project Manager: Christen Ringhausen
Above Par-adowski WebXR Minigolf
A 9-hole VR Golf experience with scripted, in-game UI, tutorial, scorekeeping and endgame sequences.
Creative Director: Andy Wise
UI Designer: Dan Rayfield
Senior Technical Artist: Colin Freeman
Technical Artist: Ayushman Johri
Technical Artist: Noah Ilbery
Creator and Dev. Lead: James Kane
Senior Developer: Kevin Olson
Senior Developer: Ethan Michalicek
Developer: Irina Fawcett
Cat Schmitz
Cat Schmitz is an artist, designer, and (most importantly) a human based in Brooklyn, NY. If you don’t recognize her name, you might recognize the big cheerful blobs, buoyant hearts, twisty noodles, demure cat paws, and floaty polka dots. Those and other off-kilter shapes are the stuff of Cat’s work — comfort objects for grownups. We created a brand identity inspired directly by Cat’s work. From the color palette and logo, to the custom typeface and product photography, each element is at home in the world of Cat.
Creative Director: Dan Rayfield
Brand Designer: Ashford Stamper
Account Service: Madeleine Sutherland
Art Director: Terri Mitchell
Writer: Emily Bihl
XD Designer: Corey Helling
Photographer: Daniel Kayamba
Producer: Kirsten Leimkuehler
Goshen Coffee Packaging
Twenty years of masterfully roasted coffee had earned Goshen a loyal following and plenty of potential to expand. What they lacked was a visual identity that resonated with their audience — and a brand idea to inspire it. To help Goshen stand out on intensely competitive retail shelves and draw more visitors to their cafes, we infused unexpected meaning into the brand name. “Goshen” became a symbolic mashup of the words “Good Shit Energy,” and a North Star for the unapologetic and positive vibe of the new brand.
Shannon Levin: Designer
Katy Fischer: Creative Director
Jane Winburn: Account Manager
Brian Hopson: Strategist & Writer
The District: Gateway Plaza
The District, in downtown Columbia, Missouri, is a thriving, vibrant mixed-use district located adjacent to universities and local colleges. The District needed a plan to build identity and help establish entryways into downtown capturing the energy of the neighborhood.
Arcturis was commissioned to develop a Placemaking Masterplan involving gateways, streetscaping, and creative means of identity for the area. Based on sound analysis, public involvement, and placemaking strategies, the resulting masterplan developed a summary report identifying the planning process and implementation strategy. Arcturis assisted with the creation of the landscape planning, art, environmental graphics, lighting design, and implementation.
The masterplan established The District Gateway Plaza as a major entry point into downtown Columbia. This plaza is a gathering spot, location marker, and graduation backdrop for celebratory pictures. Therefore, The District wanted to ensure the concept reflected the city’s unique personality and diverse history.
A large “Columbia” dimensional letter sculpture anchors the focal point of the gateway. A public campaign aided in choosing the words, phrases, notable dates, and milestones etched into the letters of the sculpture.
Design inspiration nods to the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism and the written word through textures and forms of newsprint. Tall stainless-steel letters include subtle etched milestones that encourage patrons to explore and learn while strolling in between. The “O” in Columbia is a layered globe with graphics cut out, applied, or etched, and anchors the plaza and illuminates the graphics from within at night. The sculpture was proudly fabricated by Columbia-local metalsmith, Russellbilt.
Russ Volmert: Planner
Troy Guzman: Creative Director
Jacob Valier: Designer
Judy Glik: Strategist
Brian Burmeister: Landscape Designer Brian Waite: Lighting Designer
Local Lands: Babler State Park
Our city sits at the confluence of three mighty rivers — the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois — at the end of the sprawling Missouri River valley. The rolling hills that cradle our neighborhoods are the transition between the grassy plains and the wooded Ozark Mountains. Forest Park is one of the largest and most beautiful urban parks in the world. Between Gateway Arch National Park in the East to the Katy Trail in the west, our region holds over 600 parks, 130 miles of greenways and over 100 miles of trails. The Local Lands STL Poster Expo celebrates this abundance of public outdoor spaces with posters from 40+ local designers and illustrators.
Designer: Christian Fricke
Washington University Human Resources Department
Designed around an integrative “employee experience framework,” this university’s human resource office communicates its mission and values through a layered design approach. Concentrating on the dynamic relationship between well-being and inclusivity, graphic and interior design are utilized to create a space with robust experiential design.
The reception area welcomes visitors with an installation of dimensional, tonal letters elegantly introducing this department’s five areas of focus: Mind/Body, Financial, Work-Life, Culture, Career. These initiatives were foundational in guiding the team’s creation of a comfortable, inviting, human-centered space acknowledging the university’s diverse community. Striking graphics and bright accent colors are offset by polished concrete floors, exposed ceilings, light natural wood tones, and relaxed furniture groupings to create a loft-like space that feels congruent to the lively atmosphere of the urban off-campus location.
An abstract floor to ceiling graphic mural skillfully weaves the word ‘HUMAN’ into a network of symbols representing the human condition using unique iconography. This piece anchors the adjacent work café and conference center tying together color, texture, and brand identity.
The Human Resource group’s department initiatives are expressed in an installation of clean acrylic lettering within the lounge and pre-function space of the large reconfigurable training room. Sophisticated yet subtle, this focus on the department’s goals of inclusion and well-being serves as a reflective mission moment.
Andy Palombo: Creative Director
James Butler : Designer
Brian Waite: Lighting Designer
Olivia Graff: Interior & Lighting Designer
MARY ROSAMOND KUNNATH (Designer) & ALEX KENDALL (Photographer)
5/2 Birthday Invitation
As my daughters’ birthdays are only days apart, we wanted to have a combined party. I designed a single invitation for the two sisters—one turning five, the other turning two—that centered around a custom die-cut numeral reading as a five on one side and a two on the other. I emphasized the duality with a limited color palette that highlights my daughters’ favorite colors—yellow for Ella and pink for Lila.
One Good Question: How Countries Prepare Youth to Lead
Based on a blog interview series, Rhonda Broussard – an expert in pedagogy, international education, and racial equity—uses conversations with education leaders from eleven countries to try to answer her one good question. A question that she couldn’t answer on her own, a question that could inspire different truths based on context, a question that could bring clarity in complexity. This book provides ample fodder for how you might define your own one good question. Our design for the cover of the book brings the One Good Question from a deep tangle of greenery and obscurity into clarity.
ALEX DUNCAN (Designer) & WHIT BONES (Creative Director)
Onward & Upward: Kansas City Art Institute Annual Report
Commemorating Tony Jones’ final year as Nerman Family President of KCAI, Onward & Upward is a very special document and unique among the previous annual reports. To give the publication a commemorative look and feel, the cover typography has been printed with silver foil and the design spans the front and back cover.
Fieldview
Global product video for FieldView, farm monitoring software, to highlight the tool and its features.
CD: Tyson Foersterling
CD: Tony McAley
ACD: Chris Prestemon
ACD: Christian Fricke
Account: Melissa Youngblood
Account: Cassi McDonald
Partner: Antidote Studio
Chain of Rocks Bridge Poster
Between Gateway Arch National Park in the East to the Katy Trail in the west, the St. Louis region holds over 600 parks, 130 miles of greenways and over 100 miles of trails. The Local Lands STL Poster Expo celebrates this abundance of public outdoor spaces with posters from 40+ local designers and illustrators. I chose to feature the Chain of Rocks Bridge in North County, a familiar destination for my friends and family growing up. Over the years, the bridge has been transformed into a walking and biking path connecting Missouri to Illinois. I designed modular typography to convey the sites and sounds of the river below as it swirls and churns over large beds of rocks, making it somewhat treacherous for boats.
Design & Typography: Scott Gericke
New Honor Society 2022 Yearbook
Have a great summer! LYLAS! I was the first to sign your crack! We remember them all, but they never get old. That’s why our 2022 yearbooks won’t be hidden in a box somewhere in our basements anytime soon. Complete with a letter from our Principal (our President), a crossword puzzle, pictures of us as kids, office confessions, and office pets, it truly has it all. Will you sign our yearboook?
CCO/President: Heidi Singleton
Project Manager: Samantha Weathers
Account Supervisor: Amber Drummonds
ACD/Writer: Jessy Lobel
Sr. Designer: Johnny Pelhank
Designer: Elizabeth Ustinov
It’s About To Get Loud
Made of the same beloved recipe as original Ezra Brooks Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Ezra Brooks 99 is proofed higher for a bolder flavor and a richer experience. In a new chapter of our “Turn It Up” integrated campaign, we use the power of sound to take tasting notes to the next level, capturing vast liquid landscapes and evoking the visceral energy of the first sip.
Chief Creative Officer: Mike McCormick
Associate Creative Director: Emily Daab Otero
Creative Director: Jon Hansen
I Used AI to Do My Job, and it Was Actually a Lot of Work
This project (and its temporary takeover of our homepage and social feeds) was a creative vehicle through which to share our perspective on the incredible potential of AI as an addition to the creative process — and its severe limitations as a replacement for human creativity.
Creative Director: Jon Simons
Creative Director: Caroline May
Designer: Jon Simons
Developer: Ryan Hogard
Shakespeare Festival St. Louis 2023 Program Posters
Shakespeare Festival St. Louis came to our team with the goal to create a poster series for the organization’s 2023 programming. We delivered an eye-catching, illustrated style that would communicate the subject matter of each Shakespeare program—Twelfth Night, Merry Wives, A soccer-themed Shakespeare in the Streets, and Q brothers Christmas Carol—and tie everything together for a cohesive look.
Don’t Overlook Horror Films
This broadsheet zine explores the reasons why horror films are often overlooked by mainstream awards ceremonies, such as the Oscars, despite their popularity with audiences and critical acclaim. It examines how the horror genre challenges traditional notions of film aesthetics and storytelling, and makes it less palatable to awards voters who tend to favor more conventional and predictable fare. The zine also highlights the ways in which horror cinema has been historically marginalized and dismissed by mainstream film culture, despite its importance as a cultural and artistic form. With an accessible zine format, I wanted to raise awareness of the power imbalances in the film industry that prevent lesser-known voices and marginalized groups in the arts to be represented in major award shows. The typography reflects the prestige and tradition of these awards but the distortions of the images play with the themes of horror while breaking away from convention.
Designer: Layla Lee Choi
Writers (text taken from):
“Why Horror Doesn’t Have a Category in Awards Ceremonies (But Should)” by Jack Wilhelmi
“Why The Oscars Tend to Neglect Horror Movies” by Deshawn Thomas
“The Cosmic Horror Subgenre, Explained” by Joshua Kristian McCoy
ST. LOU IS:
While there is an abundance of advertising aimed at attracting tourists or businesses considering relocating their headquarters to St. Louis, there is a noticeable lack of promotion celebrating long-time residents, particularly those who might be considered “average.” These individuals may not have made major contributions to the city or achieved fame, but they represent the true essence of St. Louis. This idea inspired the campaign name “ST. LOU IS:”.
Our goal is to identify ordinary, yet remarkable, everyday people living in the area and ask them to define “WHAT ST. LOU IS:” for themselves. For many residents, this definition goes beyond a touristy explanation and delves into what makes St. Louis feel like home. This includes their likes, dislikes, joys, pains, as well as the people they consider neighbors, friends, and family.
Each poster in the campaign will feature a new individual, with artwork inspired by their stories, presented in a raw and authentic manner. The aim is to capture the beauty found in the messiness of real life in a genuine city.
Creative Director/Designer: Danny Mehl
Corgan Website
We designed, wrote, and developed a fully responsive website that captures Corgan’s culture, honors the beauty of their craft, and helps them connect with potential clients and new hires. The redesign began with the Discovery phase, which included conducting interviews and extensive research to create a well-organized site map and user-inspired wireframes. Following Corgan’s Brand Guidelines, we built a versatile UI system and applied it to content blocks, enabling Corgan’s in-house team to design flexible, cohesive, and highly polished pages. Their new market and expertise pages allow Corgan to demonstrate depth and breadth from the navigation level down, while articles with similar topics are grouped into “Collections” for additional exploration. Lastly, by utilizing motion in user interactions, page load animations, carousel transitions, parallax scrolling, and branded videos, we used the site as a canvas to reflect Corgan’s focus on “agility in design.”
Katie Coughlan: Designer
Dan Klevorn: Designer
Eric Thoelke: Creative Director
Brian Hopson: Writer
Melissa Allen: Producer
Daniel Korte: Developer
Lyon Family Foundation brochure
A compelling booklet to communicate the story and significance of the Lyon Family Foundation, a nonprofit committed to bringing meaningful access and opportunity to Chicago’s at-risk youth. Featuring a refreshed Lyon logo on the front cover as a die-cut, this book celebrated the foundation’s past while looking forward to chapters ahead. At-a-glance graphics, grantee spotlights, initiative overviews, fundraiser recaps and upcoming event and sponsorship opportunities, kept supporters informed and engaged at every turn.
Designer: Mary Rosamond Kunnath
Creative Director: Cheree Berry
Print Production Artist: Anna Kane
Project Manager: Sydney Cavanagh
Microsoft Education World Teachers' Day 2022: Lisa’s Story
Most of us can look back and name at least one teacher who made a lasting impact on our lives, and for World Teachers’ Day 2022, we wanted to share one of those stories. But without much budget set aside, we needed to get creative with our approach. So, we leveraged one of our client’s own products to talk to a teacher out of Chicago who had a powerful story about an educator who left a lasting impression on her and her career. We then worked with an incredible St. Louis artist to bring that story to life through storybook illustrations to help capture the nostalgic way we look back at such characters in our past. After adding some subtle movements to the illustrations and a couple more of our client’s products, we feel like we were able to tell a story that is not only visually captivating, but emotionally as well.
Account Supervisor: Amber Drummonds
Account Executive: Rachel Kuerz
CD: Michael Logsdon
Illustrator: Brenna Hansen
Design Supervisor: Lisa Schwartzkopf
Copywriter: Shane Parker
Director of Production: Jered Schneider
Project Manager: Kailee Curran
Animator: Daniel Clark
Video Editor: Alex Wilson
Landmark Edition
To celebrate the shared 150-year anniversary of Yellowstone Park and Yellowstone Bourbon, we created a limited run of commemorative Landmark Edition labels featuring unique illustrations of Yellowstone National Park’s most iconic views.
Chief Creative Officer: Mike McCormick
Senior Art Director: David Illig
Associate Creative Director: Jeremy Hagen
Illustrator: Steven Noble
Packaging Designer: David Cole
City Museum Website Design
City Museum is like nowhere else on earth. It’s filled with nostalgic ephemera, winding tunnels and climbable sculptures built from repurposed materials.
After developing a new brand for the world-famous attraction, our agency designed a website that gives visitors a hint of the City Museum experience without giving away the surprises.
City Museum evolves between one visit and the next—and there’s very little wayfinding or signage to guide visitors. That’s by design: adults and children alike are encouraged to boldly explore. We wanted the website to do the same, but knew we needed to provide the important information people look for on a website. Our strategy: give people the info they need and tease the fun waiting inside—and no more.
Instead of a map, the site highlights a few key things found on each floor, like restrooms, the gift shop and Rooftop Cafe. A Things to Know page gives parents, adults and kids tips on how to prepare for a successful visit, like wearing climb-friendly clothing and writing your phone number on your child’s wristband in case they get lost.
The new website uses seemingly haphazard diagonal lines, ripped textures, spinning logos, collage-like images and slanting text to give a sense of motion and playfulness. Colors and patterns from the new visual branding make each page bright and playful. And bumper sticker graphics with phrases like “Ball pit happens.” and “I found the giant undies.” hook visitors’ curiosity.
Creative Director: Mike Spakowski
Designer: Katie Werges Pour
Copywriter: Julie Rechtien
Account Manager: Erika Cruse
Developers: Glendon Grapperhaus, Joe Cheng, and Laura Saner
Project Manager: Erin Fagan
Career Fair Color-By-Number Banner
Career fairs can get monotonous, we know. But much like eating at a restaurant with your parents when you were a kid, there’s nothing that can break up the boredom like having something to color. After all, it’s a lot like what we do in advertising. Since we have to work to make a living, why not have a little fun while doing it? So, we created this color-by-number banner to take with us to career fairs to give our booth visitors a little something fun to do…and since they’ll be spending a little extra time at our booth, it gives us a few more opportunities to tell them why we love what we do.
Designer: Eva Ju
Writer: Grace Hunt
ACD: Jyn Henzel
Account Supervisor: Samantha Arvin
CCO: Heidi Singleton
VOLUME: Vol. 1
We concieved, wrote, and designed all content for VOLUME: Vol. 1, a 60 page magazine to convey the mission of The Sheldon (Creating “Art Without Borders”).
Creative Director: Tyson Foersterling
ACD Design: Terri Mitchell
ACD Copy: Amanda Burch
Designers: Terri Mitchell, Loren Zaitz, Haley Hoffman, Vicki Vincent, Natasha Zerjav, Joerdan Carney, Ashford Stamper, and Jon Simons
Writers: Amanda Burch, Hannah Koberstein, Chris Ward, Cody Spotanski, Emily Bihl, and Chris Prestemon
Account Service: Colleen Halliday
System Upgrade
Upstart Food Brands was approached by an international business to build a new coffee brand for the US market. We do a lot of beginning-to-end brand development projects for coffee companies, and this company, like many, utilized a drop-ship coffee roaster to get to market. With many of these companies selling the same exact coffee from the same roasters, it’s difficult to differentiate based on the product itself. Because of this, having a clear theme and concept and a strong brand identity that connects with a very specific consumer is absolutely key. Identifying a distinct target and giving them a reason to support your brand is essential. With a strategy to target the tech community, we got to work.
We named the brand System Upgrade, developed an engaging brand narrative, and created a tech-inspired identity. We created brand elements such as a digital drop and digital pattern that were featured in packaging design and on the web to enhance the digital focus. We developed tech-themed product names for their single origin and blend lines. Coffee is a crowded space, and with an ecommerce sales strategy, the brand needed to stand out, so our packaging design features a black background with a flat, matte finish, and simple, bright elements that pop and reflect the passion and vibrance of the tech community. The primary 12oz coffee bags were printed, with simple labels to differentiate product varieties. We directed custom product photography to showcase the packaging and bring the brand vision to life.
Jason Schipkowski: CD/Writer
Danielle Keegan: AD/Designer
CMP Studio: Photography
JUDGGES
MELANIE URIBE

MELANIE URIBE (she/her) is a Venezuelan award-winning Creative Director and Assistant Professor at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven. She received her BFA and MFA in Graphic Design, and works at the intersection of graphic design, printmaking, and book arts. Her research explores the role of exhibition spaces in sharing the narrative of immigrants. Melanie is currently focused on digital interactive experiences and experimenting with augmented reality to visually articulate the significance of emotion in highlighting the plight of refugees.
DAVID CARSON

DAVID CARSON (he/him) has transformed the field of graphic design, earning him an AIGA gold medal, as well as recognition as one of the two “most influential designers in 30 years of Apple.” A pioneer with profound influence, Carson’s work doesn’t stick to the rules around image placement, consistent typography, or doggedly flowing copy. His attitude—one he sees as partly underdog, partly “Why not?”—carries through not only his most famous projects like Ray Gun magazine or Transworld SKATEboarding, but also his most recent projects such as a VR design museum, various branding projects, packaging design, and more.
RAKSA YIN

RAKSA YIN (he/him) is a multidisciplinary designer and community builder based in the Washington, DC area. Currently, he is the Lead Experience Visual Designer at Amtrak Innovation, where they are building the future of rail. Prior to that, he led design for state and federal governments, healthcare, finance, real estate, and start-up industries with companies like Community, JP Morgan Chase & Co, Deloitte Digital, and Huge. He enjoys doing digital product design, branding, and custom typography. He is also the AIGA DC’s Chapter President where it is his mission to inspire, educate, and empower the local creative community.
MARCH 7–29
SUBMIT YOUR WORK
ENTER DESIGN SHOW 26
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APRIL 18
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JUDGES’ PANEL
5–7pm (Virtual Event)
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APRIL 21
GGO TO THE SHOW
DESIGN SHOW 26
6–8pm (In–Person Event)
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HIGH LOW Listening Room
3301 Washington Ave
AIGA ST. LOUIS
DESIGGN SHOW
Over the last 25 years, the AIGA St. Louis Design Show has been the premier showcase for local creatives and agencies to share their exceptional work. Entries are evaluated by esteemed national judges, who select the best work St. Louis designers have to offer. Selected entries are then showcased at our Design Show main event, which draws around a hundred attendees each year. There is also a judges’ panel the week of the main event, providing an opportunity for the entire community to meet our judges and hear about selected work.
THANK YOU SPONSORS
FF Pigalle by Format Foundry is featured in this year’s design show branding! Visit formatfoundry.io for more great type!
For updates on submission deadlines and information about the judges’ panel and show, follow us on:
Have a question about Design Show 26?
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Branding and design by THE NARRATIVE