Lao American Writers + Other Creatives Summit (LAWS+)

The Lao American Writers + Other Creatives Summit (LAWS+) is a national convening of artists and creatives who identify as Lao/Laotian American. Its goal is to provide support for Lao American writers, both emerging and established through writing workshops, community panels, resource fairs, and more. In 2020, the name of the summit was changed from Lao American Writers Summit to include creatives who work with non-writing mediums. The conference was planned to take place in Philadelphia, however the pandemic put it on hold. 

As a designer, I created the identity for the event (with the exception of its logo) and its accompanying marketing materials. I also created a style guide, social media/web templates, and a library of design elements to help event organizers create their own on-brand graphics as needed.

The theme of the conference is “showing up + showing out,” so I chose to highlight the Lao American community and Philadelphia, the conference’s host city, through collage. The chosen design elements includes childhood photos of the conference speakers, Lao cultural symbols like the frangipani flower, traditional Lao textiles, Philadelphia landmarks and symbols (they were very adamant about including Gritty, the official mascot for the Philadelphia Flyers National Hockey League team).