Cornell Fashion Collective
My Role: Branding Director
Team Composition: 9 executive board members & 7 graphic designers
Tools: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign
Timeline: May 2019 - May 2020
Attracting more than 3000 audiences each year, the CFC Runway Show is one of the biggest events at Cornell. Unfortunately, the 36th CFC Runway Show (2020) was not held publicly due to COVID-19. Here is the highlight from the CFC 35th Runway Show, which took place on March 9th, 2019.
About
The Cornell Fashion Collective, originally known as the Cornell Design League, is a student-run organization that provides members of the Cornell community with an outlet to express creativity in fashion and fashion management. CFC’s mission is to present an engaging and professional runway show, providing a platform for Cornell University students to collaborate, express creativity, and inspire our community. CFC has grown to have over 180 members representing all 7 of Cornell’s undergraduate colleges, and 2 graduate colleges.
Overview
As the Branding Director, I was responsible for building brand identity by designing the organization logo, branding concept, and event pamphlets independently. I also managed a subcommittee consisting of 7 student graphic designers of our 180 member organization to create marketing materials for the 36th Runway Show — which attracts over 3,000 attendees each year. Unfortunately, we were not able to present the 36th annual runway show publicly this year due to COVID-19. The show was live-streamed on the CornellCast website.
Branding Concept 2020: Deconstruction
We chose deconstruction as this year’s theme because it is important to both the fashion industry and the CFC organization. Given the current state of the fashion industry, companies start to be held accountable for not only the clothes that they produce but also how the clothes are produced. Deconstructing the production process takes a deeper look into the industry, challenges the norm, and inspires consumers to demand more sustainable production.
In the past, the majority of organization members of CFC is from the fashion department. Our audience often does not have any knowledge about the time and effort designers and management members have to spend in order to present such a large-scale runway show. Through deconstructing the history and designers’ creative process, we hope to reveal details constructing the CFC show and encourages a deeper understanding of the organization identified in the general public.
The 2020 Logo
Inspired by the theme of deconstruction, I decided to integrate threads into my design. Threads are one of the basic components of a garment. They are usually hidden so that customers don’t recognize their existence. However, higher-quality threads produce more durable garments. A beautiful garment with poor quality threads does not last long. Similar to threads, designers’ work behind a garment is directly related to the quality of the garment, but it is usually unseen.
Also, the logo itself is deconstructed. Each letter in the logo has a part filled with threads, which looks like it is unraveling. Therefore, the logo reflects the theme both figuratively and literally.
The new CFC logo of 2020.
Fall Digital Publication 2020: The Archives
We planned and launched a new project, “The Archives”, during Fall 2019. It is open to all members of CFC, including fashion designers, illustrators, writers, and photographers. It aims to create a professional online publication that features written works, photography, graphics, art/illustrations, and fashion designs from CFC members. We want to unpack and deconstruct the identity of CFC. What does CFC mean to us individually? What does CFC mean to the Cornell Community?
I collaborated with three other CFC members to design the layout of the “The Archives”. Below are some sample pages I designed.
Spring Program Graphics 2020
The Spring Program is a physical booklet that is distributed the day of our annual runway show, which has over 1000 participants each year. It features the organization's mission, the executive board, designers, etc, and deconstructs the annual runway show. Whose work will appear on the runway? Who is supporting the events and making the show happen?
I designed the layout and graphics of the program independently. Below is the entire program that was printed and planned to be distributed to over 1000 participants. The program was finalized before the show switched to online.
Other Marketing Materials 2020
Countdown graphics for the promotion of the show.
CFC Quarter Cards for various events.