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Rock Creek Conservancy

Rock Creek Conservancy is a watershed organization protecting Rock Creek National Park, which is located in northwest Washington, D.C. As part of my university’s mission to integrate civic engagement and public service into classes, my classmates and I worked with the Rock Creek Conservancy to design the branding collateral for their annual Rock Creek Gala. I designed and illustrated the invitations.
PROJECT TYPE
Invitation Design
YEAR
2023
2023 Rock Creek Gala Invitation Design

Gala Invitation

I knew that the Rock Creek Gala invitation was very important in communicating class and an earnest cause. In order to convey this, I focused the invite around blue and green, the colors of the earth, and I drew the Mayapple plant, which can be found in the Rock Creek Park.
Inside of invitation
On the inside and back of the invitation, there is information about the history of the gala, as well as how the event helps protect and better the Rock Creek Park. Since this was a client project where we had to pass off our design files to the Conservancy staff, we left the sponsors and ambassadors portion blank for them to fill in.
Back of invitation
Save the Date Invite

Save the Date Invite

I also was in charge of designing and illustrating any elements for the Save the Date invite. This time, instead of using the mayapple plant illustration, I drew the white flowers that are sometimes attached to the mayapple plants.
Back of Save the Date invite

Initial Ideas

Pinning down the look for the invitation involved many rounds of revisions. At first, I wanted to save time by using clipart of generic plants. However, my professor was aware of my illustration skills and encouraged me to draw a meaningful illustration of a plant that exists in the Rock Creek Park. So I began doing research on some plants in the park, and decided upon the mayapple plant.
Initial drafts for invitations

The Mayapple Plant

The mayapple is a distinctive woodland plant native to the eastern United States. It has umbrella-like leaves and hidden white flowers. Indeed, it was a much better emblem to use for the invitations than generic clipart of generic plants found on the internet.
The Mayapple Plant

Final Designs

These were the final designs that were accepted by the client, and used at the gala.
Initial drafts for invitations

Rock Creek Gala Gallery

Asides from the invitations, my illustrations of the mayapple plant, the white mayapple flower, and other assorted leaves were used as visual elements throughout other branding assets, such as in the signage in these photos from the gala.
My illustrations used in the Gala signage
My illustrations used in the Gala pamphlet
My illustrations used in the Gala signage

Contact Me

Let's work together! I am very responsive on email and would love to hear from you. Find my Linkedin here.
Send me a message anytime at hello@meimei.lu!