Connect: Tyler GAID Alumni Networking Event logotype in nested keyline frames

Connect Networking Event

Jan. 2023 – May. 2023

Type: Event Design
Team members: Ben Savitz, Nayoung Im, Jade McMichael, Khalani Miller, Kaity O'Hanlon
Role: Project Manager, Production Lead
Tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign

Introduction

Connect is Tyler GAID's annual alumni and friends networking event. The identity is rebuilt from scratch every year by the program's Event Design class. For the 2023 edition, the concept came from the word itself: a single hairline threads through the CONNECT logotype, and that connecting line carries across the system as nested keyline frames over an iridescent gradient. The identity was developed collaboratively by a team of six, and I contributed to the typographic system alongside my teammates. My primary role was managing the project and leading production: as a technician in the school's print studio, I handled file formatting and prepress for every deliverable and oversaw in-house printing, cutting, and assembly of roughly 250 name tags and the event's printed collateral.

Project Motive

Handwritten word exploration listing co- words: collective, communication, collaborate, contribution

WORD STUDY AND SKETCHES

Every year the Event Design class inherits the same two event names, Create and Connect, and has to find a new reason for them to look the way they do. We started with the language. Writing out what the events actually do returned a list that came back almost entirely in one letter: collective, communication, collaborate, contribution, community, combine, continue, congrats. The prefix co- already means together, so the connection we were designing for was sitting inside the words themselves. That set the brief. Instead of illustrating networking through handshakes, bridges, or puzzle pieces, all of which we sketched and set aside, we looked for it in the letterforms. The sketching kept moving toward joining: letters sharing strokes, sitting inside shared frames, linked by a continuous line. The final logotype threads a single hairline through CONNECT, and the responsive mark holds a node inside the counter of the C.

Logo Design

First round concept board of CONNECT logotype directions, with the selected direction marked — First logo concept board

All six of us developed logo concepts independently for the first round, then brought them together onto a single board to review as a group. We moved forward with Kaity O'Hanlon's concept and developed it into the final logotype.

Refinement

From the selected concept we tightened the letterforms and restructured the lockup, moving from a stacked two-line arrangement to a single horizontal logotype. The loose line weaving through the concept became a controlled hairline that passes between letters at a consistent weight, and a nested keyline frame was added to hold the wordmark and the event descriptors. We then drew a responsive C mark for small applications, and built light and dark versions of both.

Finalized logo

Style Guide

The system pairs Brown Volky Regular for display with Mendl Sans Dusk Regular for body copy. The deco capitals carry the connecting line and the diamond terminals from the logotype, while the geometric sans keeps event details, names, and dates plain enough to read on a badge at arm's length. Five brights carry the identity, with #F0EEA and #211F28 as the light and dark grounds. Rather than assign each color a fixed role, we ran all five as a single linear gradient set at -45 degrees at 75 percent opacity, so each piece pulls a different section of the spectrum and the collateral reads as one run rather than a set of variants. The graphic elements extend the logotype's line work: a rounded connector path, keyline frames, a diamond, an asterisk, and a halftone screen used for texture and photo treatment.

Applications

Framed certificate of achievement in the Connect identity — CertificateA graduation certificate for the program's graduating majors, reintroduced after several years without one. Each names the graduate and the award received, with a foil-style seal marking the class year.

Two coasters with the responsive C mark over a halftone gradient — CoastersThe responsive C mark centered under a halftone screen, printed on dark board so the gradient holds under low light.

Alumni award stickers on gradient vinyl — Award stickersPrinted to overlay the school's official award prints, so each award carried the year's identity without replacing the university's own document.

Certificate of graduation seal stickers — Class sealA '23 seal applied to each certificate, carrying the gradient in a form guests recognize from an official document.

Printed name tags for alumni, faculty, volunteers and the class of 2023 — Name tagsRoughly 250 tags printed, cut, and assembled in-house, with fields for name, company, graduation year, degree, and role, so alumni, faculty, students, and volunteers could find each other quickly.

Table tents with the Connect logotype and sponsor logos — Table tentsTwo-sided tents on every table, thanking sponsors and prompting guests to post with the event hashtag.

Instagram story and post set announcing the event — SocialA run of stories and feed posts in the weeks before the event, driving RSVPs through the link in bio.

The system had to hold across screens, across a courtyard, and in a guest's hand. It runs from Instagram stories to signage, and across stock ranging from paper to sticker vinyl to coaster board, with each piece pulling a different segment of the gradient so nothing repeats while everything stays in family.

Production

Printed certificates of achievement laid out in rows, each with a holographic class seal

Certificates on dark stock with holographic seals, stacked before sorting

A vendor-printed coaster held in hand in the studio

Freshly printed courtyard wayfinding and sponsor panels on the studio bench

Printed welcome panel directing guests to the Tyler cafe and courtyard

Scored and folded table tents drying on the cutting mat in the print studio

Assembled name tags with lanyards and stacked coasters on the check-in table

Check-in table set up in the lobby with signage, coasters and name tags

Table tents and coasters placed on courtyard tables before guests arrive

Most of the printed collateral was produced in the school's print studio rather than sent out. Working there as a technician, I handled file formatting and prepress for every deliverable in the system, then ran and finished the pieces we printed ourselves: roughly 250 name tags, the table tents, and the courtyard signage, including welcome and wayfinding panels. Each was printed, trimmed, scored, and assembled by hand in the studio in the days before the event. The certificates, coasters, and holographic seals were produced by outside vendors, where I prepared and checked files against their specifications.

The Event

Special thanks to the GAID Class of 2023, our professors, and my beloved underclassmen.