Work/Lively Productions/MRF Denver Gala

Melanoma Research Foundation, 14th Annual Denver Gala

Client
Melanoma Research Foundation, the largest independent organization devoted to melanoma
Event
14th Annual Denver Gala, September 18 2025, Asterisk Denver
Studio
Lively Productions
Role
Event brand refresh, banners, printed plexiglass panels
Gala lounge with tall printed plexiglass panels in black frames behind a plum velvet banquette
Printed plexiglass panels anchoring the lounge 10 / 10

A fundraising gala for a foundation working to make melanoma survivable. The brief was smaller in footprint than most of the builds here, but it asked for the thing I like most: take an existing brand and give it a room to live in for one night . Refreshed, warmer, and unmistakably still theirs.

BRAND REFRESH
Updated and cleaned up MRF's branding for the event
PALETTE
Built an event theme in pink and purple tones: magenta, crimson, plum
PATTERN
A layered petal motif drawn from the foundation's own spiral mark
BANNERS
Hanging banners carrying the gala lockup through the room
PLEXIGLASS
Printed translucent panels, the pieces I'm proudest of here
SCREEN GRAPHICS
Welcome and program graphics matched to the print system
The design problem

Warmth without losing the institution

A medical research foundation's identity has to read as credible. MRF's mark is restrained and clinical, and it should be. But a gala is a room where people are asked to give generously, and cold doesn't move anyone. So I kept the mark exactly as it is and let the pattern carry all the warmth: petal shapes pulled from the logo's own spiral, blown up, layered, and washed in magenta and plum.

CLINICAL MARK
PETAL MOTIF · PINK & PLUM
Next project Hensel Phelps Old Timers Club