Case Study
The Rook Room
Brand + Logo | Digital | Print | Website | Product | Newsletter | Video
The Rook Room is a Des Moines-based pop-up business centered on creating unique, game-related experiences and events. I created the Rook Room brand including the company logo, brand style guide, brand voice, and website. Since launch, I’ve created all brand digital, print, and video marketing materials for social media, web, conventions, special events, and more. Additionally, I designed products, product packaging, and merchandise for The Rook Room when the pandemic forced the business to pivot away from its traditional in-person events format.
Logo Design
Since The Rook Room was starting from scratch, the logo design process was lengthy with multiple iterations of the logo. The final version takes inspiration from the classic rook piece used in the game of chess paired with a clean, subtle, subdued gradient using the dark purples and blues included in the brand colors.
The complete logo package contains the main, horizontal logo for use in most applications as well as vertical, centered, stacked, icon-only, and monochrome versions for more specific platforms and applications.
Brand Style Guide
Again, since the company was starting from scratch, I developed the brand’s initial style guide to help with consistency in the development of The Rook Room’s website as well as all future digital, print, and video marketing materials.
WEBSITE Design + Development
Using the brand logo and style guide, I wireframed, designed, and developed The Rook Room website. It uses the WordPress platform with a custom theme using web standards including templating, sections, accessibility, and search engine optimization.
During the style guide and website creation processes, I also developed the brand voice to match the fun, nerdy, slightly sarcastic nature of the brand and brand services. Using that brand voice, I drafted and wrote all website copy and content including blog content.
Single Blog Page
Custom icon set built for the Rook Room website
FAQ Page
Our Plan Page
Contact Page
Homepage
Digital Design
The Rook Room uses digital marketing as its main form of audience outreach, leveraging Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Google, websites, and more to inform customers and guests of upcoming events as well as audience building and retention. I have created all of the company’s digital marketing assets since its launch more than two years ago and helped to build a following of nearly 2,000 audience members.
As part of these efforts, I also created a brand for several recurring, staple events to provide consistency and audience recognition.
Below are a handful of examples used across multiple platforms in The Rook Room’s digital marketing efforts.
Puzzlepalooza brand using event-specific fonts and Rook Room brand colors.
Grain Brain Trivia Night brand using event-specific fonts and custom beer/brain logo.
Treasure Quest special event using event-specific fonts, Rook Room brand colors, and new treasure map icon set.
How the Heck Series brand using event-specific fonts, Rook Room brand colors, and custom event icon.
Play Date brand using event-specific fonts and custom event artwork.
Tune in and Play brand using event-specific fonts, custom event imagery, and Rook Room brand colors.
Show(time) & Tell logo designed and developed for a special collaborative series with xBk Live in which local artists are interviewed by playing a game with The Rook Room. See more in the video section below.
Click to view the full slide deck
One of the Rook Room company values is a focus on education. As such, The Rook Room often curates events focused on learning how to play games. I have created a number of slide presentation templates for them including the example below for a recent partnership with the Des Moines Public Library system called Learn to Slay, a Dungeons & Dragons four-part class designed for kids. Click the image to view the full slide deck.
Newsletter Design
The Rook Room also reaches its audience via an organically-grown email newsletter with signup forms on the business website as well as manual sign up at in-person events. I design and write all newsletter campaigns using brand logos, colors, voice, and imagery. Often, I have to create additional digital assets specifically for the newsletter. All campaigns sent so far have benefitted from open rates and click-through rates well above industry averages. To view a recent newsletter in full, click the button below.
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Print Design
With a focus on in-person events and a presence at various venues and conventions, The Rook Room also requires printed marketing materials including handouts, signage, menus, marketing materials, and more in both small- and large-scale formats.
Below are a number of examples of various printed materials in a variety of formats or view full-sized, high-resolution copies here.
Pop-up vinyl banner (24" x 72") design for in-person branding opportunities incorporating brand logo, colors, fonts, and tagline combined with quality board game imagery.
Gloss front, matte back postcard design for in-person branding opportunities incorporating brand logo, colors, fonts, and tagline combined with quality board game imagery on front and summarized company information on back.
Custom designed Dungeons & Dragons quick reference guide, player table tents with custom icon set, and character sheet layout used for D&D-related Rook Room programming.
Custom designed and written sabotage cards for The Rook Room's extremely popular Puzzlepalooza events including brand colors, brand fonts, and custom icon set.
Custom designed menus for various Rook Room events at partner venue locations with brand colors, fonts, and custom icons.
Product + Packaging Design
As the pandemic left The Rook Room temporarily pivoting away from in-person events, it focused more attention on products and merchandise. The primary product in its catalog became custom jigsaw puzzles featuring the work of local artists. I designed the initial puzzle box template for multiple puzzle sizes and further designed individual boxes for each puzzle in the Rook Room store as well as boxes for completely custom non-Rook Room puzzles ordered through the business.
In addition to the jigsaw puzzles, The Rook Room began selling game-related merchandise on its website. I designed all graphics for merchandise offerings including t-shirts, hats, tote bags, and more.
Below are examples of these designs. To see the full lineup, visit the Rook Room’s online store.
Video Production + Editing
The Rook Room uses video in a number of ways including for event promotion, education, and outreach. I plan, produce, write (when necessary), shoot, and edit Rook Room video assets. Depending on the need, the videos produced for The Rook Room are varied in their style and approach. Below are a couple of examples of this varied work.
Show(time) & Tell Video Series
This video series is a collaboration with xBk Live, a music venue in Des Moines, and Rook Room partner, in which artists are asked to play a game as part of an off-the-cuff interview.
Event Promo Videos
This video is an example of The Rook Room’s event promotion videos often used on social media channels to target audiences. This one in particular channels The Rook Room’s sometimes sarcastic, irreverent tone for its recurring Puzzlepalooza events.
This is a sample of the full scope of work from The Rook Room case study and brand. I can provide further examples upon request. For additional materials, I encourage you to view The Rook Room’s website and social media accounts including Facebook and Instagram.