Behind the Scenes with DC Early EdX
Raise your hand if you never want to hear the word “pivot” again. *Waves*. I’m right there with you. But, of course, in the Age of COVID, it’s what we’ve all had to do.
In early 2020, I was working with one of my favorite clients, the Bainum Family Foundation, on a new conference to connect and celebrate early childhood educators in DC. We started with the branding and were working on the in-person event collateral when lockdown happened. Since the event needed to take place in April, the Month of the Young Child, the Foundation decided to reschedule for 2021 as a virtual event. We had to figure out how to bring the energy of a room full of people to the digital space.
I created a logo, color palette and typeface selection, as well as promotional materials like flyers, postcards, social graphics, and more. My web development partner, Tim Hurley, developed this website based on the branding I designed.
Working alongside the Bainum team to find creative ways to energize and engage participants with this newly imagined event was educational, interesting, and even fun, despite all the pivoting (last time, I promise).
Early educators don’t need childish visuals.
Think about most organizations that serve young children. The branding is probably kind of childish, right? Bright colors, playful, maybe images that look (intentionally) like children’s drawings? But think about who the actual audience is. Infants and toddlers aren’t reading websites or looking at annual reports. This event was intended to celebrate the adults and their experiences working with young children — the branding didn’t need to represent childish sensibilities. Instead, we aimed for a polished look that featured vivid primary (and secondary) colors against black and white, streamlined graphics, and bold fonts. You want to be clear about the audience for your branding. Branding for an event that is geared toward adults, even adults who work with children, should be different than an event with children as the audience.
Mini mood boards are a big help.
When we had a tight timeline in place early on, it would have been easy to try to cut down on the planning process, such as skipping the step of creating mood boards. However, I’ve found that this ultimately doesn’t save time because not having that visual reference tool can cause confusion and misunderstandings. My solution was to create mini mood boards, which incorporated fewer images than I typically use, but allowed me to provide the client with two clear visual options. The Foundation also shared images of logos they liked and didn’t like, which gave me direction and helped me hit the ground running.
You can bring in-person energy to a virtual event.
Once the conference had to be revamped, I worked alongside the Bainum Family Foundation team to get creative and make a virtual event that was as exciting and engaging as an in-person gathering would have been. We created inspirational and celebratory signs that were incorporated into a motivational video expressing gratitude for DC’s early childhood educators. The Foundation used the colors and graphics I supplied to create fun, visually appealing gift boxes that were mailed to the attendees. They kept the energy high during with upbeat music from DJ Curley Sue. At a time when everything was different and we were all making it work however we could, this event was a great example of how you can still experience the vibe, hype and swag of a celebratory event even when it’s fully digital.
Note from the Client
“We appreciate Christy’s thoughtful process – it always gets us to the right creative solution,” says Ann Egan, Senior Director of Communications. “For DC Early EdX, she created a brand identity that very flexibly met the needs of planning, promoting and conducting a major event that shifted from in-person to virtual due to the pandemic. It’s also is a brand we can carry forward and build on for future DC Early EdX events.”
CHANGE MAKER OF THE MONTH
For this month’s change maker of the month, I’m spotlighting and donating to the District of Columbia Head Start Association, which provides unified leadership and support for all Early Head Start and Head Start programs within the District of Columbia. I’ve learned about their great work because they were one of the host organizations for the 2021 DC Early EdX event.