👀 A Design Job and a City's Visual Memory
Today I want to share a project I've been working on for the past few months, so you can see how much goes into something that is genuinely dear to my heart. The DC History Center asked me to redesign the visual identity for their DC History Conference, happening in a couple of weeks. The event has been running for more than 50 years!
They wanted a logo and a brand identity that could work for this edition and future ones. I wanted to bring a bold visual energy to it, so I started where I always start: researching old graphics. I'd seen All Very Goods use Go Go posters graphics in their designs and wanted to do something in that spirit. So I traced concert posters and old streetcar tickets, placed them in hand-drawn flat color blocks to give them a silkscreen feel.
I even built a font from the letters I traced, using Fontself. It's quirky and imperfect… and I'm happy to share it if you want it.
Once the logo and colors were approved, it was time to develop all the visuals for this year's conference. But this was also meant to be a template for future editions, which meant I needed a system, not just a design. The answer was right in front of me, a resource I've used many times for my postcards: the DC History Center's own photography collection. By rotating a selection of photos and slightly shifting the color palette each year, the conference can have a distinct look across many future iterations.
I was careful to select images tagged "Washington DC" in their descriptions, to show a cross-section of Washingtonians across time. For that, I relied heavily on the fantastic Martha Tabor Photography Collection. Here are some slide decks with the photos:
I'm excited about the results, and I look forward to seeing how the visuals evolve over the years. If you're in the area, I hope you'll join us on May 1 and 2 to learn more about local history.
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📷 1992 Go-Go posterfor "The Eastern Shore Jam," a concert featuring a lineup of rap and go-go artists held in Salisbury, Maryland
📷 Screen Capture of how I traced the letters on this and other posters
📷 A font I put together, inspired on said posters
📷 Slide deck using Martha Tabor's photo: Fran Silverstein, physician's assistant at work at the George Washington University Health Plan offices
📷 Slide deck using Martha Tabor's photo: Elderly patient with Alzheimer's disease in daycare program run by Iona House in Washington, D.C.
