The Blackstone LaunchPad at the University of Texas is a new center of entrepreneurship that helps students and faculty in their entrepreneurial endeavors, no matter what their background may be.
As a branding, website, and design fellow at the LaunchPad, I worked to establish a brand centered around the idea that entrepreneurship is for everyone. This brand intersects with both the brands of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation, and the University of Texas, but also introduces new colors, which make the brand more appealing to audiences of every discipline. I also worked on the marketing team to plan campaigns and content strategy so that I could write the best copy and design the best content for each of the campaigns.
BRand Theme
I created this design to show that entrepreneurial ideas can take many shapes and forms. They might arise from scientific research or a fine arts project, and the Blackstone LaunchPad welcomes entrepreneurs of all kinds. The slogan is the written representation of the brand, which I wrote to bring together the visual imagery and type into a cohesive idea.
So far, we used the design on our t-shirts and on promotional business cards, which we wore and gave out at launch events and throughout the semester.
Event Posters
I designed these posters to promote the community events the LaunchPad hosts to bring together entrepreneurs on campus. Each one utilizes the brand colors in a way that also fits the theme of the event, whether that's a friendly competition or a night to pitch ideas. The type was also written with a strong and friendly brand voice, because students had mentioned that entrepreneurship sounds intimidating.
These icons were also used on the website to keep a consistent brand across all platforms, and posted on social media leading up to the events. Posts with the icons generated more attention than others on social media, which led to an increase in event attendance.
Workshop Posters
I also created workshop posters which could be modified for each workshop in the series. These posters were meant to reach undergraduate students and researchers around campus, and were accompanied by website icons like the event posters.