Elevating Toilet Paper
Wake Forest University Campaign Events
Hargrove Experience
RESPONSIBILITY
Creative Strategy, Graphic Design, Presentation Design, Art Direction
How might we celebrate success in a way that is uniquely Wake Forest?
CONTEXT
Wake Forest University wanted to celebrate a historic $2 billion dollar fundraising campaign, Wake Will Lead, with a donor gala, campus-wide picnic, and Nationwide Roadshow, and raise awareness for their initiative, A Call for Conversation. As a Creative Strategist with Hargrove Experience, I collaborated to propose a design solution.
CHALLENGE
This project incorporated a diverse set of target audiences and venues, requiring a cohesive visitor flow and consistent experience design.
DESIGN STRATEGY
Spatial and graphic design across each event employs toilet paper as a visual device, inspired by a universally beloved WFU tradition "Rolling the Quad" to evoke a sense of nostalgia and pride in attendees.
EXPERIENCE
Each event's attendee journey leverages the Growth Loop Model (Celebrate, Elevate, Activate, Grow).
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Celebrate the achievements of the Wake Will campaign. At the gala, guests enter through the Achievement Tunnel, transitioning them into the experience with a celebration of the campaign’s achievements.
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Elevate the donors, alumni, and students who personify the heart and soul of WFU. As they cue, attendees pass Appreciation Streamers, elevating donors, alumni, and students and showing the university’s success in human scale.
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Activate a movement to carry the WFU spirit and leadership forward nationally. In the ballroom, Pledge trees activate guests to continue giving as they see the flowers bloom throughout the evening. Cootie catchers act as place settings, pulling through the Call for Conversation topics in a playful way and giving gala attendees prompts to connect on a deeper level.
OUTCOME
Alongside proving out the importance of design research, this experience encouraged me not to ignore ideas that seem 'out there' at first.
When I first came up with toilet paper as a visual device, I doubted anyone would go for it. It ended up being a great talking point with both Hargrove and the client, who voiced that our proposal was full of ideas he wished he'd had.