Dr. Phillips Presents
The Residency Festival
The Residency Festival is a music event with an array of performances led by resident orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra presented by
Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
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Creative Direction: Robert Armao and JD Harris
Target Audience: Varied
Brand Value: High End, Exclusive & Unique
Brand Identity, Photo Editing, Layout and Composition, Typography
A Case Study
In October 2023, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts hosted their week-long inaugural music event, The Residency Festival. This festival was a unique blend of orchestral music from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra paired with live performances by Birmingham Royal Ballet, Beck, Diana Ross and more. I was tasked with building out the event branding and developing the print and digital marketing materials to promote the event.
The Residency Festival posed distinctive challenges, including the need for a cohesive marketing strategy encompassing various musical genres and performances. With only 4 weeks to market the event, the creative process started with the creation of a poster series, and the initial hurdle was the absence of specific guidelines.
Each designer presented an option by blending concepts from past events and infusing fresh inspiration sourced from individually created vision boards. Collectively, the creative team shared our concepts and ultimately opted for a collaborative effort, pooling our strengths to deliver a cohesive and robust overall brand design for the event.
Collaboration became the cornerstone of the project. Working closely with my Art Director and the marketing team, a harmonious blend of logo options, textures, and color palettes was achieved. The existing typeface, Verlag, was paired with a serifed font to imbue the materials with a sense of sophistication. Despite the lack of a clear direction initially, the team navigated the ambiguity to carve out a distinctive visual brand identity.
The challenges that emerged during implementation included DPC's sponsorship team introducing a new the inclusion of a long list of donors and sponsors on nearly all marketing materials. Additionally, managing the preferences of headlining artists regarding image usage and copy placement posed further complexities. Despite these hurdles, an iterative approach was adopted to address internal and external revisions, ensuring the project stayed on course.
The goal was to create a seamless and clean set of marketing collateral that aligned with the overarching strategy defined by the marketing, creative, sponsorship, and development teams. The result was a successful transformation of an initial idea into a fully conceptualized marketing campaign. Despite the constraints, the Residency Festival marketing materials showcased a cohesive visual language, maintaining a high-end feel while accommodating the needs of sponsors and artists.
The Residency Festival case exemplifies the power of collaboration, adaptability, and creativity in overcoming challenges within tight timelines. The ability to seamlessly integrate donor information, address artist preferences, and navigate complex internal processes underscores the effectiveness of the team in transforming an idea into a successful marketing campaign for a landmark event.
Check out some of the pieces I created below and to see more check out the Dr. Phillips Center’s Instagram here.
