I have served on the AIGA Kansas City board for several years but no event has made me as proud as Sintennial. As Director of Competitions, I was responsbile for team building, creative direction, budgeting, sponsorship, process and execution for AIGA KC's largest design competition and exhibition. 2014 was a seminal year as AIGA celebrated its 100th year, our chapter celebrated our 25th and the competition's 10th.
Traditionally, the AIGA A awards season begins with the arrival of the Call for Entries poster. This poster is approximately 24" X 36" folded and delivered to approximately 1,200 students and professionals across the Kansas City area. For A10, we were fortunate to enlist the incredibly talented designer & illustrator Frank Norton.
Initial unfolding. Editorial by Betsy Jemas.
As a year with many anniversaries we decided to pump up the volume on the entire project and invite 5 judges instead of our typical 3. Our panel consisted of Dana Tanamachi, Riley Cran, Nessim Higson, Katherine Walker & Kelly Stevens.
While some competitions have opted for a digital judging, our juror's make the trip to Kansas City to visit, meet our community and engage with them over a spring weekend. Coordination of these generous people's arrival, itinerary, entertainment and eventual departure is mandatory and requires careful attention to detail. After their visit, every juror commented on how their visit to Kansas City was the most detailed and well-managed AIGA event they had ever attended.
Alongside the judging, AIGA KC hosts an event called the Jurors Panel to allow our visiting design rockstars the opportunity to talk about their careers and get to know our design community. Social promotion, event coordination, catering, A/V and registration were all the responsibility of the Competitions team.
A few snapshots from the evening.
Post Judging.
After all of the work was judged and sorted we began promotional scheduling and rollout for the upcoming gala. Above is the design for the invitation designed by Frank Norton and printed by Lindquist Press.
One of the most important parts of planning this event was coordination of sponsorship and promotion. In an effort to extend the reach of our chapter I reached out to local companies, radio stations and magazines about sponsoring and promoting our event. I was able to secure new relationships with Shatto Milk, Raygun, Local Pig and Dolce Bakery for AIGA KC to ensure an amazing event.
Promotions for the event were key and I owe a ton to an amazing communications committee for making the posts happen on time and to specifications. Creating a schedule for social posts and connecting with area influencers for extended reach were just a part of my responsibility as director.
Over 100 awards certificates were set to be given away the night of the event along with 10 juror's choice awards. The main challenge with the juror's choice awards was to create an up-cycled award with a design that could be utilized for years to come while still feeling substantial and exceptional.
The event was a great success with signature drinks, a roasted pig, photobooth and accolades and cheers for a crowd of over 400. Below are more images from the evening.
After all was said and done it was the outpouring of loving feedback, support and excitement from the event that capped off the event. After a year of planning, budgeting and promoting we ended in the black and got just as much back as we'd put in.
