The West Virginia Governor’s Conference on Tourism is an annual event that brings together members of the tourism industry for three days of networking, learning and immersive experiences. Over the past several years, the event has grown from an average of 200 attendees to well over 500 in recent years, significantly increasing the volume and quality of design work necessary.
In 2024, we completed a full refresh of the conference branding, taking the event from a standard state government meeting to a next-level experience akin to large national conferences and trade shows. With this enhanced visual identity, all event creative has been developed in-house, ranging from printed schedules and name badges to large scale digital signage and presentation materials.
The original conference logo represented a limited view of the tourism industry in West Virginia, leaning on outdoor adventure focused iconography. As the department expanded its identity to highlight the wider variety of cultural experiences across the state, the conference logo needed a redesign. The current logo, launched in 2024, positions the hosting community at the forefront of the event identity. Additionally, I worked in a compass element, signifying the event’s focus on providing attendees with a roadmap to success and continued growth. As a subtle nod to the new journey ahead, each year the direction of the compass shifts.
Taking the event to the next level, I integrated visual thrulines to tie together all of the event collateral, signage and decor. To represent the event’s environment of collaboration and connection for folks from all corners of the industry, a bold weave texture was integrated into the conference’s visual identity.
For the 2025 event, I identified a variety of ways to take the event space to the next level. The main stage setup included a 36-foot LED wall and additional LED pillars that featured custom, animated graphics that changed throughout the course of the event. Additionally, I designed 6 20-foot banners that were hung from the main space ceiling, each highlighting a different prominent media feature or award. This larger-than-life backdrop truly set the stage for the quality of sessions and activities that could be experienced during the event. Through the larger conference center, directional signage was very important for moving the 500+ attendees to several breakout rooms, meal spaces and activities. In addition to traditional board signage, I also integrated floor graphics and window clings throughout the space.
Presented with the challenge of fitting a large amount of information in a fairly small format, the physical event schedule featured keynotes, breakout sessions, meals and activities. Distributed in addition to a digital event app, attendees could be seen referencing their printed schedule through the course of the whole event. The badge graphics featured the weave texture, callouts for first-timers and other attendee types and a schedule at a glance on the back.
I designed the keynote presentation that opened the conference and set the tone for the larger event. To engage the audience (before their coffee kicked in) I designed this presentation to be very interactive, featuring videos, animated graphics and audience participation cues. Additionally, as it was important that all of the presentations met the high visual standard we had set, I created templates that breakout presenters used for their sessions.
I am currently available for new projects and collaborations, bringing a wealth of experience in crafting innovative, user-centered designs
