An evolving event identity designed to bring entrepreneurs, business leaders and community partners together around resources, relationships and opportunities for small business growth in Spartanburg County.
Organization: PowerUp Spartanburg / OneSpartanburg, Inc. / Spartanburg County
Role: Graphic Designer
Scope: Event Identity, Digital, Print, Environmental Design
Years: 2025 and 2026
The Challenge
Building recognition. Embracing change.
The Spartanburg Small Business Summit launched as a new event serving entrepreneurs and small business owners across the county. Its inaugural identity needed to establish credibility, clearly connect the event to the organizations behind it and create a recognizable presence of its own.
As the event entered its second year, the creative challenge changed. With greater recognition and a new annual theme, the team wanted a distinctly different visual direction that could bring the year's message to life while maintaining continuity through the event name, purpose and presenting organizations.
Establish Credibility
Leverage the recognition of PowerUp Spartanburg, OneSpartanburg, Inc. and Spartanburg County while establishing the Summit as an event with an identity of its own.
Design for the Experience
Build a flexible system capable of moving across promotion, registration, presentations, signage and the physical event environment.
Evolve with the Message
Allow each year's theme and objectives to influence the creative direction without losing connection to the larger purpose of the Summit.
YEAR ONE
The inaugural Summit required a visual identity that could introduce something new without feeling unfamiliar. The creative direction balanced the Summit's emerging personality with clear connections to PowerUp Spartanburg, OneSpartanburg, Inc. and Spartanburg County, reinforcing the credibility and resources behind the event.
Meet The Identity
A New Theme. A New Direction.
YEAR TWO
For the Summit's second year, the team introduced a new theme and wanted the creative direction to evolve alongside it. Rather than simply refreshing the previous year's materials, I developed a new campaign system around The Blueprint, giving the event a bolder visual identity tailored specifically to that year's message.
THE BLUEPRINT
