Sparkle Women’s Conference
Art Direction, Styling, Set Design, Graphic Design, Illustration, Installation Design
Inspiring the Boldness in Every Woman
Every year, River Valley Church hosts Sparkle Women’s Conference—a 2-day conference at Minneapolis Convention Center. Approximately 3,000 women from Minnesota and beyond come together to gather, learn, and worship. The objective for the conference is for women to leave feeling rejuvenated, reconnected and inspired.
In 2019, the Women’s Ministry Team at River Valley Church approached the Marketing Team with a verse; Proverbs 31:25. “She is clothed with strength and laughs without fear of the future”. With that verse as our inspiration, we created the visual identity of Sparkle Women’s Conference for that year.
As I thought about how to visually represent the phrase ‘Clothed With Strength’, I began to think about wild animals. Their stripes, fur, wings and scales all are ways God has clothed them with strength. Tigers are physically strong, yes—but the stripes on their coats camouflage themselves as they stalk their prey. Many animals—the Owl Butterfly and Frilled Neck Lizard for example—are equipped with the ability to make themselves appear bigger than they are to scare off predators.
Sara Schwalbe, the other amazing art director on this project, was inspired by the feather; on it’s own, it’s light. But in the company of hundreds of overs, they can carry a bird through the air. They are strong, yet light and surrendered.
Resulting from our two ideas came the visual identity of Sparkle Women’s Conference 2019.
Art Direction
Our art direction included visual elements such as animal print, natural materials, and rich jewel tones to communicate the brand persona we created, called the ‘Bold Bohemian’. This persona became the inspiration to every aspect of the project. The Bold Bohemian has four distinct characteristics: resilience, boldness, surrender and resolve. We used these characteristics to give direction and structure to the brand imagery we wanted to capture.
Styling &
Set Design
Inspired by luxurious jewel tones and bohemian flare, I designed four settings and conveyed our art direction through the arrangement of furniture, velvet curtains, plants, props, clothes, and accessories. I refrained from over-using animal print since I believed conveying the idea of the ‘Clothed with Strength’ could be done in a more unexpected and unique way.
Magazine
In lieu of a standard invitation, Sparkle Women’s Conference sends out a magazine to all of the women in the church, full of exclusive written content, speaker lineups, event details, city guides, and more. This year, the magazine cover was printed on thick matte textured card stock with ‘Clothed in Strength’ in gold foil.
Installation Design
Partnering with Evan Ihde to create 15 custom woven pieces, I designed an installation for a 4,000 square foot exhibit. It was suspended across eight rigging points, so it had to have enough substance to be impactful, yet still fit within a budget for a non-profit ministry. We decided to create a collage of large woven shapes, portraits from our promotional photoshoot printed on transparent fabric, and greenery. My contributions to this project were designing the configurations of the shapes, determining measurements, layout, installing greenery day-of, and designing the screen & print displays that were placed throughout the lobby.
Merchandise
Every year at Sparkle Women’s Conference, we create branded merchandise to sell to attendees. We wanted to create pieces that would help attendees to remember the experience and what it stood for. For these two pieces, we relied on the main scripture reference—Proverbs 31:25—and an illustration of a tiger that had become a consistent motif in the brand. Our leading piece, the denim jacket, featured a custom 8-color embroidered patch that was applied to unique vintage Levi’s jackets.
Credits
Client Becca Ketterling & Sparkle Conference Team
Producer Darren Lee
Art Direction Sara Schwalbe & Kailey Schmitt
Account Management Molly Dupuis, Anna Dickie
Graphic Design, Illustration, Styling, Set Design, Apparel Design Kailey Schmitt
Photo Direction, Set Dresser Sara Schwalbe
Photography, Set Dresser Katlyn Hovland
Videography Nick Kallies, Kyle Morgan, Tom Poch & Jessica Sieradzki
Editor Nick Kallies
Installation Design Kailey Schmitt & Evan Ihde
Milliner, Wardrobe Assistant Evan Ihde