The Outdoor Foundation, the charitable arm of Outdoor Industry Association, hosts an annual fundraising event called Outsiders Ball in Salt Lake City on the eve of the Outdoor Retailer summer trade show. The Ball raises funds for Outdoor Nation, an organization committed to providing opportunities for young people to experience the outdoors. The Ball had been successful in the past, but the Outdoor Foundation wanted update aspects of the brand, and design collateral to be used for the party.
I started by auditing the previous year’s Ball, identifying what worked, what missed the mark, and what needed to change. 2016 was the centennial anniversary of the founding of the National Park Service, so I created an event narrative and visual designs that celebrated the beauty and grandeur of our country’s National Parks as well as the inspiring work of Outdoor Nation.
I used Yosemite as an icon to draw on for building out the visual language for the park. In fact, the team I was working with had a small replica of Yosemite built for the ball.
I designed all the branding/illustrations that told the story of Outdoor Nation and encouraged guests to support the organization’s work.
More than 1,000 outdoor industry leaders attended the Ball, raising $210,000, which impacted 30,000 youths
