Hillyard Creative District
Branding & Engagement Launch
In 2025, the Hillyard community was planning for economic development. What started out as me being invited to a neighborhood meeting, I quickly became part of the effort in launching the Hillyard Creative District, an official designation in Washington State that opens doors to new possibilities for neighborhoods like this one. I stepped in to assist in defining its visual identity, messaging, and presence as projects are coming to fruition. I wanted to bring visibility to the artists, businesses, and community efforts taking place in this neighborhood by offering my skills & knowledge in creative strategy, design systems, and multimedia storytelling. From art walks to celebrating overall wins, this is a collaborative effort based on listening, connecting, and bringing a shared vision to life as a true public identity.
Branding & Identity
Logo System
Logo Design based on Hillyard’s Roots
As a place of grit and pride in its industrial roots, it was important to design an identity that not only represented the district, but one that its residents and businesses would claim.
Logo Adaptations
As the Creative District identity continues to grow and change shape, the brand system can evolve alongside it. The anomaly of the orange steam plume in my original logo design and the serif font chosen carefully to represent the old rail signage are the perfect foundation for other logo adaptations with time, allowing it to stay visually fresh while always being a nod to its industrial roots.
Logo Animation
To bring the new brand to life, I created an animated version of the logo that captures both the industrial movement and creative energy of the district. The animation serves as a dynamic closing element for videos and presentations, reinforcing the district identity and legitimacy.
Website & Digital Presence
Community Website
Cohesive System and Hub
This project is what started it all. There were a lot of things happening in the district—some existing, some new, some just ideas—but there wasn’t a central website to serve as a resource for the community. The district had always wanted a directory, but I didn’t stop there.
I created submission forms for events, business listings, and more, along with guidelines and response language to keep everything clear and consistent. I built systems in the background to support it all, and that’s what ultimately kicked off the need for branding—something that felt like they had arrived somewhere special.
Now, with project pages, an about page, a community calendar, archival pages and more, the website has become a hub that connects the many efforts happening across the neighborhood.
Social Media + Engagement
Awareness + Reach + Engagement
The Hillyard Creative District social media accounts have become an essential part of connecting creatives, residents, businesses, and newcomers. Since I launched the accounts in May 2025, the district’s channels have grown to more than 1,700+ Instagram followers and 1k+ on Facebook as of December 2025.
With event campaigns and project updates taking up majority of the feed, it was important to make every post feel like it had purpose. Event promotion was done thoughtfully, to not just highlight the event, but to highlight the businesses and artists contributing as well. Project updates were not just about progress, but to show the passion behind the work and how it benefits the community.
With a mix of creative storytelling and strategic collaboration, it didn’t take long for the creative district to get traction.
Campaigns & Events
Third Thursday Event Series
Community Arts Activation: Audience Engagement + Community Impact
A huge goal for the district was to create a monthly event that connected artists, businesses, and residents. With excitement growing, it soon became favorite tradition featuring pop-up galleries, live music, and creative activities with more interesting and new collaborations in each event.
I jumped in at the beginning to help refine the event’s visual identity and structure, producing a full collateral system for promotional the event. This started out as a comprehensive landing page, flyers, social media posts, eBlasts and more!
As planning continued to grow, so did the marketing needs. To help streamline tasks and triage interested talent, I created submission forms, agreement forms, and a streamlined process for organizing the information. I also refreshed the landing page for each unique monthly event, while updating an archival page of previous collaborators, to thank those who believed in it from the beginning.
On event days, I was boots-on-the-ground helping with setup, posting to social, and filming or photographing the activities. The corridor was so full, I even hired out additional help for coverage! I also added in interactive elements such as a themed photo booth, helped recruit regional talent, and implemented targeted paid advertising to maximize reach on short timelines.
All of this work grew even more excitement for the Hillyard Creative District, and as our in-person participation and digital following grew, we had an invested audience for other big announcements as well.
Third Thursdays: Haunt the Yard Event
Collaboration, Community Voice + District Identity
With the success of the Third Thursday pilot, and huge support from the community, there was pressure to keep the momentum going. However, recognizing Hillyard’s unique position in Spokane with rich history, there was opportunity to position the district as a Halloween destination. While building up this reputation will understandably take time, I suggested we lean into its historic charm and brand the October event as its own. Thus, Haunt the Yard was born, inspired by the neighborhood’s industrial roots and grit.
To bring the concept to life, I reached out to local historians to look for the best opportunities to make this vision come to life. This quickly turned into a collaborative effort for one of the features between myself and Amanda Paulson (a professional paranormal investigator who happens to live in Spokane) to create a one-of-a-kind paranormal investigation with limited seating. I managed all ticketing, logistics, disclosure and directed proceeds back to support the Creative District.
For other features, local businesses along the corridor took ownership of creating their own activities within the shared theme. The event filled the district with Irish dancers, pumpkin carving contests, tarot readings, horror trivia, and live music, turning the neighborhood into a unique Halloween celebration.
Along with spooky festivities, October was also National Arts and Humanities Month and I was asked by a district leader to incorporate that into the event experience. To ensure this spanned the entire corridor, I created an Arts and Heritage Passport encouraging attendees to explore the district’s landmarks and creative spaces. Through historical research, I wove Hillyard’s rail-era lore and multi-cultural histories into an interactive “scavenger hunt” with clues, printed materials, and digital maps.
The result was an immersive and collaborative celebration that blended arts, heritage, and Halloween into one community-driven event in only a few short weeks. We received incredible feedback, positioning it to be even stronger for years to come.
Street Banner Project
Collaboration, Community Voice + District Identity
The Hillyard Street Banner Project began as a simple wish by the businesses to restore life onto the corridor, as the twelve-year-old original banners were torn, missing, or faded. When I was brought into the discussion, I recognized the opportunity to include the community in deciding its new identity. I proposed the idea of turning the project into a public contribution. While design contests can sometimes raise concerns within creative communities, the priority was to create a transparent, community-driven process that gave residents and businesses a voice in selecting the final designs.
Working closely with the project leader, I created a detailed timeline that accounted for design time, voting periods, and production deadlines to ensure the banners could be printed and installed before winter.
Along with the design prompts decided by the committee, I also created a design template in multiple formats and listed specifications to make the process easier and more accessible. This call for artists was promoted with support of a dedicated landing page, social media campaign, and community voting interface that allowed us to compile data for documentation and even grant writing.After submissions were in, I implemented a structured voting system that included business voting, community voting, and final judging.
After finalists were selected, I produced promotional materials announcing the winners and coordinated the rollout leading up to the Creative District Launch event, where the official design was unveiled.
Video Storytelling
RELATIONSHIP BUILDING
This post demonstrates how authentic relationships and shared storytelling expand reach. The addition of a high-profile creator helped the content achieve over 18,000 views organically.
STRATEGIC COLLABORATION
Partnered with creative producer and storyteller Amanda Paulson to expand visibility for Hillyard’s creative community through shared storytelling and cross-platform engagement. This collaboration leveraged Amanda’s 200K+ audience to highlight local art, history, and neighborhood revitalization while emphasizing authentic creative connection over promotion.
CITY-WIDE INITIATIVES
Campaigns that align with Spokane’s broader creative-economy goals. These efforts amplify city-level visibility for the district, encouraging collaboration among organizations, artists, and civic partners.
COMMUNITY RECOGNITION
A community highlight post recognizing the artists, musicians, and collaborators featured in Hillyard’s creative events. By tagging and uplifting individual contributors, this campaign encouraged cross-promotion, built excitement, and fostered a sense of shared ownership within Spokane’s creative network.
I first got involved in Hillyard while helping a local business with marketing and design. I was invited to a community meeting where people were talking about creative projects they wanted to bring to life in the neighborhood. After hearing their ideas, I introduced myself, shared my background, and offered to help however I could. From there, I began attending meetings regularly — listening, learning, and finding ways to contribute through design, storytelling, and strategy. What started as a small introduction turned into a much bigger effort to help Hillyard build its creative identity and share its story as Spokane’s first Creative District.
Social Media & Cross Promotion