STORY
The Rainier Club is one of the most distinguished private city clubs in the Pacific Northwest. The five-story historic brick mansion, centered in the heart of downtown Seattle, Washington, caters to its membership’s social and business needs and has many special interest groups that help plan over 200 events for the membership annually. Amenities of the Club include a health club, an elegant restaurant, a fireside bar, catering services, overnight rooms, a business center, and international reciprocal club privileges.
As a Graphic Designer, Website Designer, and Website Administrator, I was responsible for creative direction for all member-facing communications promoting all these business areas. I was a visual and written brand steward and led efforts to elaborate and refine the branding concepts and produce branding and writing style guides. I supported over eight administrative departments and sixteen business and social committees with marketing and communication needs. Below is a small selection of projects from my time at The Rainier Club.
Contributions
Graphic Design and Creative Direction for Print and Digital/Web projects such as Presentations, eBooks, Email Campaigns, Mail Campaigns, Social Media, Newsletters, Event Promotion Postcards, Invitations, Flyers, Brochures, Branded Merchandise, Business Stationery, Restaurant and Bar Menus, Tradeshow Displays, Bound Books, Food and Beverage Labels, Signs and more.
Branded Publications and Writing Style Guide
Website Research, Planning, Content Development, Coordination, Wireframing, UX/UI, Art Direction, Administration, and Adoption Efforts
In-house and Third-party Print Production and Management
Project Management and Scheduling
Vendor Production and Distribution Coordination
Event and Marketing Photography
Marketing Content Development, Writing, and Coordination Support
Inventory, Supply, and Business Equipment Management
Projects at The Rainier Club
Business Stationery
Work included in-house printing as well as collaborating with a list of local and national partner vendors.
Website Redesign Concept
Responsive website concepts were generated to help provide the Club’s board of trustees with an example of how they could move forward to improve member engagement and mobile use by building a new private and public-facing website.
Adaptive/Responsive Website Redesign Concepts
Website sitemap of one of the 12 primary pages of the website showing the complexity and amount of content needed for building out the website.
Private Events and Weddings
The Club’s Catering Department takes care of members and guests with exceptional personal service and exquisite cuisine at the Club’s historic downtown mansion. Projects for the department included a private events e-book and printed folder and catering menus, advertisement cards, flyers, magazine and web advertisements, targeted emails, trade show booth assets, custom signage, and event stationery.
Club Membership
The Membership Department sought ways to retain the current base of business, civic and creative leaders and attract new prospective community leaders. Projects to engage members and prospective members included membership information packets, special mailings, invitations, special events, emails, and more.
Club Events
The Club holds over 200 business and social events a year many of which required unique communications. Projects included a combination of invitations, flyers, postcards, accounting statement inserts, emails, mini web pages, menus, programs, table tents, and table numbers, signs, awards, and specialty products. I was also the Club’s go-to photographer at the events which gave me the opportunity to enjoy many of the Club’s social and business events firsthand.
Membership Roster
The Membership Roster was created as a printed reference for members. This 175-plus page book included general club information, house rules and bylaws, an archive of past officers, a detailed directory of domestic and international reciprocal clubs and their amenities, and contact information for all the members. This project required building timelines, verifying members’ information, coordinating the materials and databases, formatting the compiled information, graphic design, and coordinating production and distribution with vendors.
Brand Refinement, Strategy, and Stewardship
At the start of my time at The Rainier Club, a new basic visual identity package had just been crafted by an agency and adopted. I built upon the existing logo file provided and created new master logo files, digital assets, templates, and a Club photo library.
I also strategized to improve administrative and client-based processes for staff and club members through informed decisions and intelligent design. Projects included initiating and developing a visual style and writing guide for all communications, initiating a thorough brand assessment and business plan, analyzing and diagramming interdepartmental and club-wide processes and assembling new workflow charts, creating custom staff templates for print and digital communications, and educating staff and members about communication procedures and best practices.
