Express Employment International hosts an annual conference called the International Leadership Conference (ILC). Each year, a new theme is selected for the conference. In 2024, the company was overcoming a difficult year and decided on the theme being “Conquer the Climb” in order to motivate Express franchisees to continue on the journey and push past difficulties.

The Events team was clear in wanting mountain imagery in this logo, especially because the conference was being held in Denver that year. All members of the design team contributed options and my logo was picked in the end to lead the conference. My logo is a mountain range with a sun rising behind it, indicating hope after a long trek up the mountain. I not only designed the logo, but all the web banners, email headers and footers, website graphics, name tags, lanyards, and Powerpoint templates for the conference. My work from there was used as inspiration by our partner, Image Technologies Corporation (ITC), to create set dressings for the main stage, as well as décor around the hotel like elevator door wrappings, signage, etc.

The design direction was a huge hit among attendees, as I heard from them myself when I was volunteering at said conference. Several people told me it was their favorite design for the conference so far. It was an extremely rewarding and valuable experience and taught me a lot about weaving physical spaces and human interactions into a cohesive, memorable journey.