AIGA GROW Mentorship Program
Branding
THE PROBLEM
AIGA Austin launched a new Mentorship Program in 2021. They needed an entire brand to launch the program that would hopefully be tied to their GROW conference in the future.
MY ROLE
Designer
![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/608da56cca0ecb13d344b2d4/1619910187049-FIOOO8EQ5DIV0YHOHSC8/aiga_conf_outdoor-signs.png)
The Story
Building a mentorship program from the ground up is a task of its very own. Now add that it is part of a creative community and needs to entice the community to participate. AIGA Austin was also dealing with the the need to diversify their community engagement and develop trust and inclusion within the full community. The development of the brand began with the national chapter’s annual conference theme for 2021 — building bridges — combined with the need for Austin to support its community.
The program name came from the chapter’s previous Emerging Designer Conference: GROW. The GROW conference began in 2018 with the goal to connect and support Austin Creatives with 0-5 years of experience. While the mentorship program was going to target all Austin Creatives, the ideas behind GROW aligned well with the program and the team wanted to eventually tie in the final program event into the GROW conference once they went back to in-person events.
![richie_a_moleskin.png](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/608da56cca0ecb13d344b2d4/25a2045b-aafc-4468-8e6f-adec58e7038a/richie_a_moleskin.png)
![aiga_conf_tote.png](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/608da56cca0ecb13d344b2d4/c070ca48-ddac-4f97-99f7-15a0017dc2f0/aiga_conf_tote.png)
![aiga_conf_lanyard_blue_small.png](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/608da56cca0ecb13d344b2d4/af5b196f-6760-4056-a8b2-2f3808002f15/aiga_conf_lanyard_blue_small.png)
![aiga_conf_lanyard_pink_small.png](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/608da56cca0ecb13d344b2d4/a06293dc-670c-4a07-ad93-a749ca58b37c/aiga_conf_lanyard_pink_small.png)
The design elements created for the program and conference branding was derived from the double helix based on the idea that growing and building bridges are both concepts built on human connections.