HealthRise 2025

IMmersive Event

Prev

Next

The HealthRise annual event gives Kansas Health Foundation the chance to inspire the state’s health leaders with a meaningful, interactive experience.

Following up on the inaugural HealthRise, this year’s theme was upward mobility— helping Kansans access the full spectrum of resources across the state. Our challenge was to help attendees feel the community collaboration and catch the vision of the event’s theme statement: “we all rise together.”

To play out that idea, our concept toyed with perspective. Our visual design adopted a layered, multicolor look for invitations, pathways, and the stage itself. Attendees received glasses with either a blue or red filter, revealing specific graphics and wayfinding for a two-way walkthrough experience. On stage, colored lighting shifted with each speaker, reinforcing the effect and allowing participants to literally and metaphorically see through different lenses. What initially appeared as chaotic colors, dots, and lines turned into clarity.

Attendees took home a fresh-off-the-press copy of Ed O’Malley’s book, Leading Health, with a custom HealthRise cover. The book served as a tangible connection to the event, extending the experience beyond the night itself.

Creative Direction and Graphic Design: Gardner Design; Video and Motion Design: Justin McClure Creative; Sound & Lighting: Kent AV; Event Logistics & Planning: Dot Strategies

Johnson Kendall Johnson

Identity and Website

Prev

Next

We partnered with Johnson Kendall Johnson (JKJ) to help their digital presence feel more like the people behind the brand.

JKJ is known for being warm, sincere, and relationship-driven, but over time their website and marketing materials had drifted away from that reality. Through discovery, it became clear that what clients value most about JKJ isn’t just expertise—it’s the people. Our job was to bring that to the surface and let it lead.

We started with a visual language designed to greet visitors the same way JKJ’s team does: friendly, confident, and easy to talk to. Bright photography, inviting animations, and a bold color palette set the tone. A graphic photo style that visually wraps around and protects the subjects in each image reinforces JKJ’s tagline, “Our passion is your protection.”

Along with the visual details, we simplified the navigation, wrote fresh headlines, and cleaned up the content structure. Under the hood, easy content management, responsive design, and faster performance ensure the long-term experience holds up.

The result is a modern, cohesive digital presence that finally matches the strength of JKJ’s relationships and the care behind their work.

Creative Direction, Identity Design, Web Design and Development: Gardner Design

UCLA Bruin Giving Day

Marketing and Social Media

Prev

Next

We partnered with UCLA to reimagine Bruin Giving Day as a bold, energizing moment that unites the community around generosity.

More than a fundraising push, Bruin Giving Day is a call to action—uniting alumni, supporters, and advocates in a shared effort to support UCLA’s mission. The university approached Gardner Design to refresh the campaign’s look, feel, and voice to better match UCLA’s momentum and forward-thinking spirit.

Working closely with UCLA’s team and partners, our campaign identity, brand language, and messaging shaped a cohesive concept that could flex across platforms while staying unmistakably UCLA. The simple, motivating idea was You Seize the Day. The concept reframed giving as an active choice, inviting donors to play a direct role in shaping UCLA’s future. The campaign played out consistently across the website, landing pages, and social media.

The resulting campaign felt clear and inclusive, energizing donors and positioning them as active participants in the progress UCLA makes every day.

Creative Direction and Identity Design: Gardner Design

Rudd Foundation

Branded Environments

Prev

Next

We worked with Rudd Foundation to weave their story directly into the walls of their renovated headquarters.

No matter who you talk to at Rudd Foundation, their passion rings out and traces back to values established by founder Leslie Rudd. An entrepreneur who cared deeply about giving back to youth and causes close to him, his vision carries on every day at the organization.

With a major renovation to their headquarters already underway, what was missing was a clear expression of that story. Our role became creating a series of environmental graphics and displays that would bring Leslie’s legacy to life the moment you step through the door.

Collaborating with Ten Works, we designed a main lobby display that highlights the Foundation’s history and mission in a bold, welcoming way. Along the primary hallway, modular wall displays share impact points from over the years. Around the corner, visible from the main common area, a large wall features a shimmering grid of past Rudd Scholars, with room to grow for future cohorts. And in the conference room, large-scale guiding statements face portraits of current board members, layered over wallpapered core values.

The result is a space that feels not just modern and polished, but grounded in purpose. Where quiet storytelling moments greet visitors and daily inspire the people carrying the mission forward.

Creative Direction and Graphic Design: Gardner Design; Fabrication: Ten Works; Architecture: Shelden Architecture

Orpheum: The Dark Tour

Marketing

Prev

Next

We partnered with Wichita’s Orpheum Theatre to keep its lights on digitally while the historic venue went dark for a year-long remodel.

With the building closed but anticipation high, the Orpheum needed a way to stay present, stay relevant, and keep its audience engaged until reopening night. Our answer was The Dark Tour: a social media series that treated the closure like an intermission, not a pause. Built for Instagram and Facebook, the series taps into the theatre’s deep archives to spotlight legendary concerts, classic films, and unforgettable moments—from Louis Armstrong and Beatlemania to vaudeville roots and a touch of old-school spookiness.

Currently underway, the campaign connects past to present, pairing throwback photos and stories with prompts that invite the community to share their own Orpheum memories. The result is part history lesson, part love letter, and part hype-building engine, setting the stage for a strong return when the doors reopen in 2026.

Creative Direction, Graphic Design, and Motion Design: Gardner Design

WishWell at Somewhere Fest

Immersive Event

Prev

Next

We collaborated with Kansas Health Foundation to turn a community survey into a can’t-miss experience at Wichita’s Somewhere Fest.

The goal was simple but ambitious: hear directly from Kansans about what upward mobility really looks like, all within the buzz of a two-day music and arts festival. To pull people in, we leaned into spectacle. With six shipping containers at our disposal, we partnered with Miami-based muralist HOXXOH, who used sprinklers to paint bold, swirling art across each container. They quickly became photo favorites and a natural invitation to step closer.

Inside, the experience shifted from eye-catching to personal. Alongside Youngman Design, we created WishWell, a playful nod to both wishing wells and wishing someone well. Festival-goers stepped into custom booths, answered a single question on video, and walked away with a one-of-a-kind, up-cycled t-shirt.

In just two afternoons, more than 420 people took part, turning curiosity into conversation and setting the campaign up for continued impact well beyond the festival.

Creative Direction: Gardner Design; Murals: HOXXOH; Nomenclature and Graphic Design: Youngman Design

Wichita Library Foundation

Identity and Website

Prev

Next

We partnered with Wichita Library Foundation to updo their identity and web presence into something that made it clear who they are and what they do.

Through a thoughtful and collaborative process, we worked with the Foundation’s leadership to ensure the refreshed brand authentically reflected their mission. At the heart of the rebrand is a distinctive ribbon-inspired logo evoking both a bookmark and a symbol of excellence. Just as a bookmark holds a reader’s place in their journey, the Foundation’s work marks key milestones in Wichita’s educational and cultural growth.

The new website brings the Library’s impact to life, sharing compelling stories of how the Library touches lives every day. From early literacy to lifelong learning, the result highlights why the Foundation’s support is essential to Wichita’s future.

Creative Direction, Identity Design, Web Design and Development: Gardner Design

Kansas Health Foundation

Branded Environments

Prev

Next

We teamed up with Ten Works Fabrication to help turn the Kansas Health Foundation’s headquarters into a hands-on space that invites curiosity from the moment you walk in.

As part of a larger interior transformation, our role focused on creative direction for a series of experiential installations. We originated the concepts for an illuminated “Lite-Brite” wall behind the reception desk, an interactive pegboard, and a history display with rotating panels that encouraged visitors to touch, explore, and engage.

Each piece was designed to balance clarity with play. The illuminated lobby wall turns complex health data into something visually compelling. The pegboard wall follows the flexible form of the room. And the rotating panels wall invites people to literally turn stories over in their hands to learn more about the Foundation’s mission.

Together, these elements prove that thoughtful design can make even serious work feel open, welcoming, and alive.

Creative Direction and Environmental Design: Gardner Design; Fabrication: Ten Works; General Contractor: McCownGordon Construction; Architecture: Shelden Architecture