SXSW 2016

Facebook and Instagram host an annual design happy hour during SXSW in Austin, Texas, and in March 2016 I took on the job of making it feel welcoming and charming to Austin’s finest design thinkers.

My work covered the branding, illustration, type, the invitations, the RSVP page, the space design for the venue, and some fun schwag to send guests home with.

I started with a seal for the laser-cut wooden invites (paired with a rabbit’s foot) and for the branding as a whole. In the South a good handshake goes a long way in making friends, so I poured a lot into that drawing. I tapped an old Ben Barry design for some of the whimsical line work above and below the custom SXSW #ATX western type. I also wanted to add my own flair to the Clive Bar word mark so I created a custom rendition of their Austin famous hand-painted signage.

For the interior and space design of the already awesome Clive Bar venue, the idea was to bring the look of Facebook headquarters to Austin: redraw some of Facebook’s most iconic internal propaganda posters in letterforms that felt more like Texas, and hang them in the venue the way you would come across them on the Menlo Park campus walls.

I also designed some Facebook Austin pennants as take-home gifts for our wonderful designer guests.