Once a year, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) opens its campus to host TouchTomorrow, a festival of science, technology, and robots. In partnership with NASA and WGBH, the festival features exhibits run by students, faculty, and sponsors, as well as appearances by NASA employees, astronauts, and occasionally, Curious George.

I served as lead designer/art director on the event for 2015 & 2016. My goal at takeover was to take the pre-existing branding, which had been in place since the original festival, and give it a refresh.

original robot illustrations by Pop Kitchen
photography by Ben Bocko, Matthew J Burgos, and Britt Hafford

Invitation
Though a public and free event, invitations were sent to those on our mailing lists, VIP guests, and possible sponsors. The box invite is a mock-up for a corporate sponsorship invitation with special pin gifts that I just loved, but unfortunately never made it to production.

Advertisement
Ads were placed in local magazines, newspapers, and programs. Two billboards were purchased at opposite surrounding cities. An animated billboard of Blinky the robot appeared on the WGBH electronic billboard in Boston.

Social Media
Social media blasts were spread across Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook; on TouchTomorrow's own channels as well as the main WPI channels.

Environment
Areas surrounding campus and on campus proper displayed NASA and TouchTomorrow branded street banners. Employees were stationed around the event holding "Have a Question? Ask Me!" signs. Rubber bracelets were handed out and maps were changed to reflect the different activities in each station. Signs featuring our robots lead guests in the appropriate direction, both inside and outside of the buildings.

Attire
Three shirts were created to differentiate staff members working at the event. Regular staff received the red t-shirts, VIP staff (those on the planning board) wore cyan polos, greeter staff wore yellow t-shirts. The yellow t-shirts were a revamped design of mine from the 2014 event.