rocky mountain women’s film
Bringing a wider vision into focus
What started as a small film festival started by two women in 1987 became a film organization with year-round programming and a mission to cultivate community and elevate women’s voices through film.
As a women founded-and-run organization, with the longest-running women’s film festival in North America, RMWF has a rich legacy of empowering women storytellers.
However, the organization recognized the need for a more relevant branding approach that captured their personality, values and quality of their events and programs.
RMWF approached FIXER to help them create a fresh and inclusive brand that resonates with their community and cultivates future supporters.
Services
⛛ Brand Strategy
⛛ Naming
⛛ Copywriting
⛛ Identity Design
⛛ Website Direction + Content Strategy
⛛ Event Design
⛛ Marketing + Print
⛛ Apparel Design
⛛ Brand Management Systems
Through in-depth research and discovery sessions, we gained a deep understanding of RMWF's history, goals and value to the community.
This led us to an insight on RMWF’s brand positioning and name needing slight refinements versus an overhaul to be more relevant and compelling.
Our first stop on the rebrand path: dropping ”institute” from the name and crafting key messaging around their mission and values.
The logomark captures (pun intended) their role of viewing the world through a female lens. We wanted the classic camera lens shape, recognizable to their target community, but rendered from varied shapes and colors, much like the wide range of perspectives present in their film selections.
Shifting the tone of their primary brand color brought warmth to the brand, complimented by an expanded color palette — a modern take on jewel tones — that brings a little visual spark.
Brand STRATEGY
A defined brand architecture brought consistency, structure and clarity to their brand communications. It connects key programming to an overarching vision, making it easier for new audiences to understand RMWF and transition from an event attendee to a longtime supporter.
Still photography from screened films are featured extensively in their communications, so we wanted to find a way to bring that personal, human element into their branding outside of a specific film.
The face illustrations showcase a wide range of ages, backgrounds and gender expressions of the RMWF community. Paired with abstract elements and textures, inspired by the grain in film, they add visual interest and coherence to the overall brand experience.
festival branding
The Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival is RMWF’s marquee event, attracting filmmakers and filmgoers from all over the world since 1987.
Our main goal in rebranding the signature festival was (to quote a classic film) to dial it up to eleven — the festival is a fun, energetic, delightful experience that needed a brand to match. The new logomark puts an exclamation point at the heart of the brand, along with punched up color and bold typography.
EVENT DeSIGN
Logomarks and illustrations were created for each core event, capturing the distinctive experience of watching film with others in different settings.
Assigning a signature color to each event boost the visibility and differentiate them from each other.
RMWF continues to evolve their events and programs, so having a consistent wordmark structure accented with custom illustrations lets them grow with purpose and style.
FIXER collaborated with Design Rangers to bring the new branding to life in the digital realm. The website was redesigned with a vastly improved user experience, prioritizing an easy navigation across devices, showcasing storytelling with information, and boosting engagement with RMWF's programming and resources.
BRAND MANAGEMENT
The RMWF Brand Book brought their narrative and visual brand together for their corps of staff and volunteers in a tangible way.
Longtime and new community members are introduced to RMWF through strong, vibrant visuals and language, enabling the organization to onboard its best brand ambassadors seamlessly.
Accompanying the brand book are usage guidelines, production documentation, brand toolkits, templates and files.
This comprehensive Brand Kit empowers RMWF to maintain consistent branding across all channels and get the best return on the investment in a rebrand.
