Camp Coalesce marked a different chapter for Coalesce’s annual gathering. Working alongside BrightBase, I partnered with the creative team to support a visual direction that brought together AI-assisted illustration, layered design, and a strong narrative concept.
My contributions focused on helping translate that creative direction into a cohesive event brand that could scale across both digital and physical touchpoints. The goal was to ensure the experience felt immersive and unexpected while remaining clearly grounded in Coalesce’s identity.
Visual Identity
AI-Driven Illustration
Web Design
Event Collateral
SaaS
B2B
Community Event
The project began with a deep dive into nostalgic visual references, including vintage park posters, scout badges, retro illustration styles, and camp counselor gear. These references helped inform a design language that felt warm and familiar, while still appropriate for a modern B2B SaaS audience.
The core challenge was balance. Leaning too heavily into nostalgia risked feeling gimmicky, while staying too restrained would lose the spirit of camp. The visual direction needed to feel playful and immersive without undermining the credibility of the Coalesce brand.
AI was used as an acceleration tool rather than a shortcut. I supported the creative team by using Midjourney to rapidly explore a wide range of visual directions, then evaluating and refining those explorations through a human design lens.
My focus was on helping the team move from experimentation to a usable system. That meant assessing which directions could remain consistent at scale, align with the Coalesce brand, and work across multiple formats. The outcome was an AI-assisted visual approach that balanced playful retro textures with a polished, modern tone while remaining cohesive across hundreds of assets.
While AI played a key role in exploration and speed, I was responsible for crafting several key hand-illustrated elements, including the event badges. These handcrafted pieces served as anchors for the visual system, providing clear stylistic references that guided AI-generated assets rather than competing with them.
This approach helped the final identity feel intentional and human, turning simple icons into memorable elements within a broader, scalable design system.
The final system delivered a cohesive, human-centered event brand that balanced nostalgia, playfulness, and polish. Through the AI-assisted workflows I supported, the team saved over 50 hours in image generation while maintaining creative control and visual consistency.
More than 300 on-brand assets were delivered across the event landing page, social content, and physical swag. The result was an immersive and memorable experience that refreshed the Camp Coalesce identity and remained unmistakably on brand.
—Devon Tackels
Director of Marketing Programs
Coalesce
