Apex
December 1, 2012
The Apex project was an exercise in branding and promotions during my senior year at school. We were tasked with developing, from the ground up, a brand for a high-end luxury ski resort. We were allowed to choose the location of the resort, though the aesthetic had to be modern and chic rather than rustic. We were also tasked with naming the resort. To me, “Apex” seemed like a fitting name – A place at the top of the world for those on the top of the world. It was met with some criticism by my peers; in hindsight, ‘Apex’ does kind of sound like the name of a gym rather than a resort. As well as the brand, we also were required to do create promotional material for the resort. This included the 11″ x 17″ travel poster which you see below.
I tried to create an epic experience with the poster; something that really spoke to the brand essence. The ideal image was one of whimsy, but also one of refinement and fun. Some other undeveloped ideas were: Rappelling down the side of a cello and scuba diving in wine. In the end, I felt that this image was the most appropriate for a mountain resort. this poster was one of the first times that I tried to use a few photos as possible to create my imagery. I’ve always felt that the creation of image is key to a successful design, and since I couldn’t really do a photo-shoot, that left me with illustration to create my image. It was a good test of my fledgling skills and I am glad that I went down that route. Those mountains taught me a lot.
Looking Back
This project taught me the importance of a unified brand and that creating a brand takes foresight and thorough execution. I also challenged myself to create images, not just manipulate them. This was one of my favorite projects to work on while in school and now it demonstrates how far I’ve come from that point.
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