96th Louisiana Farm Bureau Convention
OVERVIEW
Create a graphics package for the Louisiana Farm Bureau Annual Convention. This graphics package will be the system used from the 96th Annual Convention to 99th Annual Convention. The graphics package must translate to print, environmental signage, digital media including social media and web and broadcast media.
THE CHALLENGE
Creating a flexible graphics package for our annual convention, using original artwork showing agriculture in everyday lives.
THE SOLUTION
Oh, convention. Every June, we at the Louisiana Farm Bureau often say it's the most wonderful time of the year. As I'm sure your mind finished part of that Christmas classic, the most wonderful time of the year in Louisiana, at least in my opinion, is Mardi Gras. Every Louisianan has a great Mardi Gras story, whether it be from a local parade to the months of parties in New Orleans. Our annual convention is always held at 555 Canal Street in New Orleans, at the New Orleans Marriott. It's been there for decades, and I wanted to bring the location into consideration for this graphics package. New Orleans is bursting with creativity, and I wanted to reference a theme that was more mainstream -- Mardi Gras.
While I didn't want to create a bunch of float designs, or something more mundane like masks and beads, I wanted that to be the starting point. I spent a day in New Orleans visiting Mardi Gras World and the French Quarter, took pictures of elements that caught my attention. What made New Orleans and Mardi Gras so special and iconic, and how can I bring that into our brand?
The cityscape was always iconic to me, and the French Quarter is known around the world. In researching cityscape graphics I found interesting solutions of using the building shapes to bring out the cityscapes that were so unique. I also saw designs with layered buildings that weren't overwhelming or a generic outline. I wanted to bring the unique architecture of the French Quarter buildings into the design, but with an agriculture twist. I wanted to add Louisiana crops to the roof and on the cityscape itself. Roof top gardens in cities in and outside of New Orleans were my inspiration for this idea. New Orleans does have plenty of businesses that sell fresh produce and goods grown on rooftops and serve food deserts in the area.
The message behind the art was clear: Agriculture is all around us, no matter where we are. It's in our everyday lives, whether we see it or not.
In the sketches above, you'll see I started to experiment with the building layers, and jotted down notes of iconic buildings, where to place them in relation to the Mississippi River and where to place the crops and animals in the cityscape. The next step was the convention logo.
For the logo system, I wanted soft, round type that was easy on the eye on print, environmental signage and broadcast media. I also wanted to feature the number of the convention, knowing we were counting down to our centennial convention. I chose Aerokids as my header font and Futura Round Bold as my number and sub-header font. The client requested I incorporate the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation logo into the logo design, so I added it on top. After the system and layout were decided, I created the logo for 96th-99th conventions.
I wanted the colors to give the Mardi Gras feel, as well as compliment our PMS 202, or as we call it Farm Bureau maroon. So I chose violet, gold, green and blue. I know it's a lot of colors, but I knew I was going to use all of them in the cityscape. I challenged myself to only use these five colors in all designs for this graphics package.
The cityscape includes buildings inspired by the research photos from the French Quarter, New Orleans landmarks including the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, the St. Louis Cathedral and the Huey P. Long Bridge. Within the cityscape, you'll find row crops like rice, corn and sugarcane growing either on rooftops or within the buildings. On the French Quarter buildings, you'll find flowers growing in between some of the window panels, and some flowing off the balconies. Lastly, you'll find cattle, horses and chickens on the Riverwalk and some chickens in the building balconies. All of these elements represent the theme behind the piece -- agriculture in always in our everyday lives.
At the center of the cityscape is the New Orleans Marriott from Canal Street. This is the location of our annual convention, so I made the color Farm Bureau maroon. On the river tower, you will find the convention year and number.
Youth Contest Brochure
This project begins the fall before the annual convention, but the colors and type were already decided by this point. This brochure is distributed at the grassroots, explaining the rules, topics and regulations of each youth contest. We also feature the winners of each contest from the previous year.
Main Convention Programs
This program was a 26-page booklet with the convention schedule, ads and need-to-know information about our annual event. The cover was printed on gloss cardstock, and the interior pages were printed on uncoated paper at a local printer.
Women's & Youth Event Programs
These templates were used for our Youth Contest events, our Women's Leadership Committee business events and our Memorial Service. These programs were printed on uncoated cardstock at a local printer.
Meeting, Event and Information Signage Templates
Video Thumbnail Template
TWILA Coverage Thumbnail Template
Video Lower Third Template
Convention Video Graphics Example
Event Livestream Covers and Thumbnail Examples
Awards Program Slide Templates
Award Title Slide Template
Award Prize Package Slide Template
Social Media Coverage Slide Template
Custom Award -- President's Award
This award is given to the Parish Farm Bureau who has the most star awards. Since we are a grassroots organization, I wanted to bring a farm feel to this award. I created the artwork for the metal plate, and it is attached to the found barn wood.
Website
I created a convention website promoting convention forms, schedule and highlights using Squarespace. I used the Basil template because I was inspired by the menu functions, and large photo features within the template. The website features our main convention graphics, as well as photos and video created by our communications team. I used the same website system from conventions 96-99.
Social Media Graphic Templates
These graphics were created to promote speakers, livestream times and giveaways at the convention. Graphics were made for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and we had a Snapchat filter for in-person attendees.
CREDIT
Clients:
Tim Payne, Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Field Services Director; Lynda Danos, Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Convention Coordinator; Megan Gravois, Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation YF&R and WLC Coordinator; Niki Clarke, Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Field Services Assistant; Cyndi Gassie, Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Membership Assistant
Team:
Avery Davidson, Louisiana Farm Bureau Communication Director; Neil Melancon, Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Assistant Communications Director; Kristen Oaks-White, Louisiana Farm Bureau Social Media Coordinator; Karl Wiggers, Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Videographer and This Week in Louisiana Agriculture Producer; Monica Velasquez, Louisiana Farm Bureau Graphic Designer, Photographer and Webmaster
Production Vendors:
Vivid Ink Graphics, sign printing and backdrop production; Baton Rouge Printing, print programs, Crown Trophy, President's Award production