Strategic Thesis
A family-centered event requires an experience that speaks to both children and parents while remaining cohesive across multiple restaurant locations.
Role
Brand Experience Designer & Creative Strategist
Focus Areas
Experience Architecture
Event Brand Identity
Audience Journey Design
Environmental Graphics
Deliverables
Event Identity System
Marketing Collateral
Environmental Graphics
Digital & Print Promotions
Vendor Experience Materials
Context
Kids Eat Chicago was created to celebrate family dining and introduce parents and children to restaurants across the Chicago food community.
The event needed more than promotional materials. It required a cohesive brand experience that could guide families through the event while reinforcing a clear and engaging identity.
The challenge was designing an identity and visual system that could function across multiple environments — from marketing and digital promotion to on-site signage and vendor participation.
Audience & Positioning Insight
The event targeted two distinct but overlapping audiences:
parents seeking family-friendly dining experiences
children drawn to discovery, fun, and participation
Most food events focus primarily on adult audiences. Kids Eat Chicago needed to position itself differently — as a shared experience between families and local restaurants.
The visual and experiential strategy needed to balance two dynamics:
playful and approachable for children
clear and credible for parents and participating restaurants
This dual-audience positioning informed the tone, visual language, and experiential touchpoints throughout the event.
Strategic Problem
Without a unified event identity, large community events can quickly feel disorganized or difficult for attendees to navigate.
The event required a system that could:
attract families through marketing and promotion
create a recognizable presence across participating venues
guide attendees through the event experience
The brand needed to function both as promotion before the event and navigation during the event.
Strategic Intervention
My role was to design a cohesive event identity and visual system that could support both marketing outreach and on-site experience.
This included:
creating the visual identity for Kids Eat Chicago
developing promotional materials to attract families
designing signage and graphics for participating venues
ensuring consistency across digital and print applications
The strategy focused on making the brand easily recognizable and intuitive for families navigating the event.
Experience Journey
The brand experience for Kids Eat Chicago was designed around three stages of audience interaction.
Discovery
Families encounter the event through promotional materials and digital announcements.
Goal:
Generate excitement and clearly communicate that the event is designed for families.
Touchpoints:
promotional posters
digital event graphics
restaurant participation announcements
Arrival & Participation
Families begin exploring participating restaurants and engaging with the event experience.
Goal:
Make the event feel welcoming, easy to navigate, and visually cohesive across locations.
Touchpoints:
event signage
venue graphics
branded materials across restaurants
Shared Experience
Parents and children engage with the event through food, discovery, and participation.
Goal:
Create a memorable experience that strengthens the connection between families and local restaurants.
Touchpoints:
environmental branding
restaurant engagement
family-friendly visual cues
System Built
The final system created a flexible experience framework that could operate across multiple key event touchpoints. Together, these elements created a unified event presence that connected marketing, navigation, and brand storytelling.
Event Identity System
A playful yet structured visual identity designed to appeal to families while maintaining clarity for participating businesses.
Marketing & Promotional Materials
Posters, digital graphics, and promotional collateral designed to build awareness and attract attendance.
Environmental Graphics
Signage and branded materials used throughout participating venues to guide attendees and reinforce the event identity.
Vendor Integration
Visual assets designed for restaurants and partners so the brand experience remained cohesive across locations.
Outcome
The final brand experience system provided Kids Eat Chicago with a cohesive identity that could function across both promotional and experiential environments.
By aligning marketing materials with the on-site event experience, the brand created a more intuitive and engaging journey for families participating in the event.
The system strengthened recognition for the event while allowing participating restaurants and partners to operate within a shared visual framework.
