Brand Identity, Content Creation
Excellence in Canadian News Media Gala 2025
| RGD Project Based Mentorship Program
Graphic Designer (Brand Identity & Social media Promotion)
Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Illustrator
Team
Victor Szeto – Creative Director
Robert (Alexander) Weitzel – Art Director/Project Manager
Rubial Fusigboye – Graphic Designer
Andrew Rizzi – Graphic Designer
This project involved branding the 2025 Excellence in Canada News Media Gala (ECNMG). This is a fictional non-profit organization that celebrates journalists, reporters, news media organizations, and sponsors who support Canadian news reporting.
The design team was tasked with conceptualizing the brand identity for the event and implementing four deliverables that demonstrated the identity across various analogue and digital touchpoints. These included social media posts, a program book, web page, a sponsor activation.
Goals & Objectives
The ECNMG brief is based on a real-world project provided by the Creative Director. The team needed to showcase the organization as a serious force of influence and truth to Canadian households.
Highlight award recipients and how their work impacts public opinion and policy.
Underscore the value of sponsorship and donations
Implement a design that packs emotion and ease of understanding so that everyone gets the concept without having background knowledge or academic access, and feels compelled to take action.
IDEATION
During the brand ideation process, a variety of identity concepts were developed to reflect ECNM’s goals, with the final solution needing to effectively represent a diverse range of reporters and news coverage rather than being limited to a specific field. Through an iterative process of refinement and review, the team successfully crafted a comprehensive and enduring brand identity.
To allow designers to fully focus on visual concept development, the Creative Director (CD) provided all written content for the deliverables. Each week, team members shared their progress and exchanged feedback to enhance the work. The brand’s direction was not predetermined, and the CD encouraged maximum creative freedom, pushing boundaries beyond conventional design approaches. This approach fostered spontaneous exploration and experimentation, ultimately resulting in a fresh and unexpected brand identity.
SOLUTION _ Logo
SOLUTION _ deliverables
Social Media Promotions
Lead by Sienna Joung
View the Instagram account
A content calendar was created to determine the posts required for the event from its initial announcement to the post-event recognitions. A total of 11 Instagram posts were created that included three Reels. The brand comes alive in motion, reinforcing its news media tone while ensuring key details are communicated clearly and quickly. A design system was developed to differentiate between various post categories, whether it’s a recognition of sponsors, award winners, or making a statement.
Web page
Lead by Rubiat Fusigboye
View the web page
This web page was centred around providing journalists and the public with information about the Gala in the clearest and most user-friendly way possible. The information included details about the event date and time, where to get tickets, what the organization is about, award winners, past photo galleries, and sponsors. The page interactively expands on the brand, integrating details like the viewfinder icon as the cursor, and treating the different sections in a manner that connects to the visual language of the other event deliverables.
Program Booklet
Lead by Andrew Rizzi
View the Booklet as a PDF
This event specified a 28-page program booklet that required planning a grid-system page layout to express a large amount of content while maintaining hierarchy and reader interest. The layout, font choice, and colour palette were designed to portray a serious tone. The finished size was 3.9” x 8.25” which had a production practicality while coming across as elegant and visually appealing. The event brand identity was supported by the use of black-and-white type and grayscale images. Gold was used as an accent throughout.
Sponsor Activation
Lead by Alexander Weitzel
This deliverable was an anomaly by design. The objective was to create a sponsorship activation that connected both visually and conceptually with ECNMG while offering a tangible benefit to the sponsor. After a lot of ideation and reference research, we decided to use Reddit as one of the event’s top sponsors and build a unique and memorable maze experience. Attendees would be provided with an empty sticker card which can later be filled in by answering gala-themed questions throughout the maze. At the end of the journey, participants received an invitation to an upcoming Reddit service targeted at journalists and media executives to drive sign-ups and engagement to the platform. Deliverables include the maze design, signage and graphics for the wall exterior, invitation envelope that houses the punch card and stickers. The maze could be easily reworked and repackaged for future events and experiences.
Results
Through the RGD Mentorship Program, I learned the importance of teamwork and collaboration. While my previous academic experiences were mostly individual work, this program helped them develop skills in task distribution, design cohesion, and receiving feedback. The most valuable takeaway was the opportunity to share diverse perspectives with team members and experience a creative design process. Additionally, the 1:1 feedback and practical guidance provided a deeper learning experience compared to traditional classroom settings. This mentorship became a valuable opportunity to build both their portfolios and real-world experience.
