The Iowa City Downtown District

Downtown Iowa City is a fun place.

So the brand and the materials of the organization responsible for its direction need to be bright, vibrant, and inviting. The Downtown District's signature brand color is red. PMS 186, to be exact. It's actually become a strong enough brand marker that, whenever anyone sees a hit of red in a store window, they assume there's something cool that's either happening today, or soon. Three brand typefaces provide enough flexibility to handle different voices, and still provide that consistency of tone when used across all platforms.

Always something to do.

Every year, the Downtown District is a major presence in local and regional visitors guides. Benson & Hepker works with the marketing team at the District to create compelling ads that communicate the diversity of events and opportunities in Downtown Iowa City.

Snack your way through Downtown Iowa City.

The Downtown Iowa City Cookie Crawl is a retail event held in February to encourage shoppers to brave the Iowa winters and shop downtown. Benson & Hepker Design creates posters, maps, and swag for the event. Each ticket purchased includes one of these tins, also designed by Benson & Hepker, which can then be filled with cookies at participating shops. Sells out every year.

An annual event.

Every year, the Downtown District debuts its annual report at an annual meeting/celebration. The report details the numbers and the stories behind the numbers and reports the impacts of the organization's efforts to its board members and key stakeholders. Benson & Hepker Design created this year's report, expanded to eight pages from last year's four pages, in part to give the organization more room to tell its stories, and also to mark the first year of the organization's new executive director.

More in store.