Making Waves at Tennessee River Jam: A Designer’s Perspective
Social media post design for the Tennessee River Jam Spotify playlist.
Reflecting on Tennessee River Jam: A Community Celebration
I am honored to share my experience working with the Paris-Henry County Chamber of Commerce as the social media manager for Tennessee River Jam. This incredible event, which took place from May 30th to June 2nd, brought together our community in a celebration of music, food, and local culture. Here’s a recap of the highlights and the efforts behind making this event a success.
Event Highlights and Involvement
This year, I was tasked with managing both the Facebook and Instagram accounts for Tennessee River Jam. My responsibilities included creating promotional designs, responding to comments, focusing on stories, and handling overall social media management tasks. Interacting as the page itself and encouraging engagement were crucial elements of my role. My priority was to create content that was not only visually appealing and professional-looking but also valuable and engaging for our audience.
Design Process
To create the various promotional materials, I primarily used tools from the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite, such as Photoshop and Illustrator. Canva was utilized for quick, last-minute posts and scheduling updates. Additionally, I leveraged different AI platforms to enhance my designs. These AI tools were used to generate assets like dust particles, grain, seamless textures, and patterns, adding depth and layering to the images. AI also helped with upscaling and improving the quality of images for some of the acts, ensuring that the visuals were always top-notch.
One of the unique aspects of my design process was the use of eye-tracking prediction software. This tool helped ensure that the most important elements of each design captured the audience's attention effectively. I also created an original song for Tennessee River Jam, which can be used for future promotional efforts. This song, along with the visual content, added a special touch to the event's branding.
Tennessee River Jam Theme
Background and Skills
My background in graphic design, advertising, and music has significantly prepared me for this role. I've been involved with music throughout my entire life. Designing for musicians and concert events is probably my favorite thing to design for next to making logos. This experience, combined with my graphic design skills, has given me a unique perspective on event promotion.
Boomslang Creek Fest 2022 Logo
A couple of years ago, I handled the branding, social media, and advertising for Boomslang Creek Fest in Dover, Tennessee, which provided valuable insight into event promotion and design for the area. So, needless to say, I’ve been looking forward to the opportunity to become involved with Tennessee River Jam since the beginning.
In college, my Bachelor of Fine Arts exhibition at Murray State University revolved around branding a record label and streaming service called Diverge Radio. This project involved designing album covers, posters, promotional materials, and even a commercial. This experience taught me the importance of creating versatile designs that can be used across various platforms, a skill that proved invaluable for Tennessee River Jam.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Rachel Steedly and the Paris-Henry County Chamber of Commerce for giving me the opportunity to work on Tennessee River Jam. Their support and openness to new ideas were instrumental in the success of this event. Additionally, Crove Media played a vital part in capturing the content and media for the event. Working collaboratively with the media that Sam Hutson and his team captured allowed me to focus on the design and implementation.
This year's River Jam saw over 6,000 attendees, more than the previous year, and it was the first year the event made a profit. Being able to contribute to this success through my designs and social media management is something I am incredibly proud of. I am excited about the future of Tennessee River Jam and look forward to continuing to support and promote local tourism in our community.
---
TL;DR:
I managed the social media for Tennessee River Jam, creating designs and engaging content using Adobe tools and AI enhancements. My background in graphic design and music, along with previous event experience, prepared me well for this role. Thanks to the collaborative efforts with the Chamber of Commerce and Crove Media, the event saw record attendance and profitability. I am proud to have contributed to its success and look forward to future involvement.