Once again I had the opportunity to create a poster for our local roller derby team, the Blue Ridge Rollergirls. As I’ve noted before, I love creating their posters! They give me a theme and let me know what copy and partner logos are to be included and then let me at it.
When Drag’n SlayHer told me the theme was “Frosted Skates” my mind thought of punning off Frosted Flakes, but Celeste had done an excellent “Lucky Charms” poster not too long ago so it seemed a little too soon to do another. Frosty the Snowman seemed kinda clunky. Then I thought of the Hans Christian Anderson tale The Snow Queen – perfect, I thought – combined with sort of a Narnia White Witch image. I set about sketching, but it just wasn’t working. I couldn’t get the roller derby energy into an ice queen.
To make a long story short, after digging around the internet and thumbing through lots of books at the library, I came around to the X-Men character, Emma Frost. Now that is PERFECT. She is tough, icy, and well, her name is Frost so we end up with a pun after all.
The illustration came together nicely and I got to use some of my cool Alien Skin Photoshop filters to create icicles on the type.
Seems to me Emma Frost would make an excellent rollergirl. I’d get out of her way.
Inside spread, front and back of the five panel brochure developed for the YMCA of WNC. Part of the implementation of the new Y brand.
The YMCA is in process of rebranding across the nation. They have updated their “Y” logo and created a new colorful look.
Rebranding is a great time to remind your audience of who you are and what you stand for, and the Y is maximizing this truism. They are using this time to draw attention to their three areas of focus: Youth Development, Healthy Living, and Social Responsibility, reminding us of the depth of the Ys commitment to community.
Starting with the 2010 Annual Report, I have worked with our Y of Western North Carolina in implementing their new brand. I worked closely with their Financial Development Director to ensure that the materials for this year’s fundraising campaign brought the new brand to life.
Along with the updated graphics, we moved to a five panel brochure and included a pledge card for ease of response. Brochures sent to past donors included variable data on the pledge card, additionally adding to the ease of responding.
We also revamped the newsletter, implementing brand while creating a new oversized piece to allow for more stories and larger photos. I’m proud to say that our newsletter design was presented as an example to other Ys across the country of good implementation of brand! Click here to view a pdf of the Winter/Spring 2011 issue.
Other support materials included t-shirts, banners, ads and posters (shown below).
For information on the Y of WNC visit www.ymcawnc.org