Rogers
TIFF 50
Discipline(s): XM
Agency: Salt XC
Role: Design Director
CD: Paul Dela Merced
3D Design: Mike Beene, Mansi Almadi
Design: Natasha Hertle, Egis Bytyqi
2025 was Rogers’ second year as TIFF’s presenting sponsor, and they wanted to do it even bigger than year one. With two large-scale activations, we certainly achieved that goal. The main activation located next to Roy Thomson Hall gave Rogers’ Beyond the Seat customers access to front row seats to see their fave celebs walk the red carpet and interact with fans. Each side of the build had second-floor viewing decks, with a slo-mo GlamBOT-inspired photobooth on one side and a popcorn bar on the other. The entrance of the experience featured a marquee sign that was updated for each film premiere, offering a unique photo keepsake for visitors.
In Yorkville, the historical home of TIFF, we shut down a portion of the street to build a red carpet experience open to the public that featured a retrospective on the past 50 years of the film festival, from its humble beginnings to its current international acclaim. The entrance commanded attention with a 20 ft arch, followed by 10 freestanding walls flanking the street that displayed photos and facts from each decade of TIFF. At the end of the carpet, a stage provided space for programming which included a live symphony orchestra with singers, interviews with up-and-coming directors, and a live art installation.
Design touchpoints we developed included graphics for the entire red carpet structure, the display boards in Yorkville, content for the digital screens, wayfinding, staff badges, and popcorn sleeves.
ROGERS STADIUM
Discipline(s): XM
Agency: Salt XC
Role: Design Director
ECD: Brad Van Shaik3D Design: Mike Beene, Carmen Skoretz
Digital, UI/UX: Jack Bowman, Ahmed Omar
Design: Arda Cem, Aubrey Pratama
What started as a pitch for a “simple” XM ask turned into a live concert experience unlike any other. For Rogers Stadium’s inaugural year, we developed an activation that featured not only a physical footprint in the fan plaza, but also a custom keepsake video of fans’ experiences they can cherish forever.
As they stepped through the giant Rogers logo-shaped archway (with artist-specific signage that changed daily) into the giant Rogers logo-shaped footprint with our own DJ tower, fans were invited to scan a QR code and begin creating their very own Rogers Replay. A web-based mobile app was designed with a digital map to guide users to various content pods placed around the fan plaza, where they could take a quick video which was then automatically uploaded to the cloud. During each night of each show, our own production team captured professional content, and that same night, all content captured (both users and our own) was automatically edited together to create a unique recap video, sent to users’ phones the next morning.
It sounds quite complicated, and it was, but ultimately the result was thousands of unique keepsakes and super stoked fans!
In my role I led the design of all wayfinding/signage, graphics for the main 50x50 footprints and the content pods, as well as UI/UX support for the mobile app.