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Improving Design: Association of College & Research Libraries
Design Comparisons
AssociaDirect’s services were recently retained by the Association of College & Research Libraries to develop a new identity for their biannual conference. Our team began the process, by taking a look at the association’s previous conference websites to gain an understanding of how the conference had been treated visually in the past.
Logos & Visual Identity System
Early in our discussions with the ACRL their team had explained how the event serves as a friendly place to for members of the association to meet and network. Part of this project would be to convey that energy. Looking at the past conference logos, we were able to see where this had been attempted in previous years.
While these previous logos may have been successful in appearing friendly and engaging, we did not feel that they accurately reflected the level of sophistication that an association of higher education professionals deserves.
AssociaDirect instead chose to create a mark that was reserved in appearance, yet friendly in its use of color. Our solution simplifies the mark, reducing it to the acronym and year of the event. This serves to create a signature that is only slightly modified from year to year, allowing brand recognition to build. This would be otherwise missed using the previous logos that change every year.
Conference Website
The primary application of the conference identity is on the conference website. In previous years the logo had been applied to a predesigned template, however the move to a standardized identity system for the event made the development of a sophisticated website possible.
The previous conference websites used a simple template with a navigation bar along the top and left, with a large fluid content block in the center. This solution left a lot to be desired and failed to leverage any of the other social content that the organization produces.
Out solution maintains a similar navigation structure so content could remain in a similar format, however we have added a number of new features. In addition to applying the new visual identity, we have added a large animated header area where prominent events and information can be featured. We have also integrated content from external sources such as news updates and the conference blog.