Happy Y’allidays, Austin!
This large-scale event branding project for the Downtown Austin Alliance in 2022 and 2023 included everything from concept ideation to 5-story animation projections. The basis of this visual identity was rooted in making sure that the idea of holidays transcended the idea of a single tradition while being captivating and colorful. Merging intentional diversity and bright Rankin Bass-inspired illustrations, the Holiday Stroll branding became something that truly showcased the spirit of the season. My role was ideation, design, and execution of all parts of the project.
This flexible design system makes it easy to interchange the graphics for social media and print ads, event signage, the Holiday Stroll website, and more. Featured in the 2022 imagery, event attendees could anticipate drinking warm hot chocolate out of commemorative mugs, taking lots of selfies and enjoying the event with friends and family, shopping from local Austin vendors, meeting Santa, and caroling the night away.
To promote the event and accompanying Holiday Shopping Passport in 2022, a series of social, web, and print ad campaigns were rolled out to encourage Austinites to participate in the downtown Y’alliday happenings. These ads drove traffic back to downtownholidaystroll.com, which was also completely redesigned for the new suite of visuals.
At the event, branding elements were found prominently throughout the space. Branded signage provided brand awareness, sponsor recognition, wayfinding assistance, and interactive photo moments for folks to immerse themselves in the event. I partnered with two other artists to paint Santa’s chair in an urban art style that reflected the character of Downtown Austin and the y’alliday spirit.
In addition to creating traditional branding elements, the 2022 Holiday Stroll was my first foray into projection animation. Throughout the evening of the event on the corner of Congress Avenue and 7th Street, the skyline was lit up with a 2-story-tall 45-second looped y’alliday animation projection. Special thanks to the Contemporary Austin – Jones Center and Llano Estacado Development Co. Inc. are in order for making this immersive installation happen. The below showcases the absolutely massive scale of the projection.
The 2023 Holiday Stroll graphics reflected the new offerings for that year’s event, including cookie decorating, and refreshed some of the beloved characters featured in the previous year’s imagery.
In addition to traditional and social marketing materials, street banners projections
Ashrose Creative 