Making the Best, Better

Desert International Horse Park (DIHP) organizes and runs more than ten weeks of premier horse competition in Thermal, CA. These shows are regarded as the second largest in the country and draw exhibitors from all over the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

I was hired by DIHP to seamlessly design the company’s presence on both digital (website, email, social media) and physical (printed marketing, prizes, way-finding) experiences. My background with design shaped the way I approached each project; from how design assets were created for social media sharing to how signs would be understood at a quick glance.

Marketing

• Organically grew Instagram account to nearly 5,000 followers in six months with a concentrated 94.43% growth in followers from January 13 - March 10
• An average Instagram impressions of 77,000 per week
• An average Instagram reach of 3,435 per week
• Organically grew Facebook page to over 2,500 likes in six months with a concentrated 39.96% growth in followers from January 13 - March 10
• An average Facebook engagement of 14,479 per week
• An average Facebook reach of 9,590 per week

Published Writing

Jan 13, 2020: NEW EQUITATION PROGRAM ADDED TO THE 2020 DESERT CIRCUIT AT THE DESERT INTERNATIONAL HORSE PARK

Jan 18, 2020: WEEK ONE CHAMPIONS OF $30,000 ULCERGARD GRAND PRIX AND $1,000 U25 CROWNED

Jan 18, 2020: MARSHALL & STERLING INSURANCE DERBY PROGRAM KICKS-OFF WEEK ONE

Jan 20, 2020: ALI RAMSAY AND LUTZ SOAR TO FIRST PLACE TITLE IN $100,000 HORSEFLIGHT GRAND PRIX

Jan 21, 2020: NICK HANESS & REESE’S RIDE TO SWEET SUCCESS IN THE $5,000 USHJA NATIONAL HUNTER DERBY – PRO

Jan 21, 2020: NATALIE RAE MEDLOCK & LUCIANO EARN TOP HONORS IN $5,000 USHJA NATIONAL HUNTER DERBY – JR/AM

Feb 04, 2020: DESERT INTERNATIONAL HORSE PARK TO HOST FEI DRESSAGE WORLD CUP™ QUALIFIER IN 2020

Feb 21, 2020: NICOLE WILSON, MARISA METZGER, AND CENTERFOLD K EARN TOP PLACING IN $2,000 PRO/AM LOW HUNTER CHALLENGE

Feb 28, 2020: CARLETON BROOKS & GONE COUNTRY BRING HOME CHAMPION IN THE $7,500 USHJA NATIONAL HUNTER DERBY – PRO

Feb 28, 2020: NATALIE RAE MEDLOCK & LUCIANO EARN TOP HONORS IN $7,500 USHJA NATIONAL HUNTER DERBY – JR/AM

Mar 01, 2020: ROSEBOOM TAKES TOP HONORS IN $1,500 USHJA PONY HUNTER DERBY, SPONSORED BY AIG

Mar 08, 2020: DESERT CIRCUIT WEEK VIII FINALE

Logo Design

With the addition of two more horse shows to our competitive season, I needed to create logos to represent the new shows (Desert Dressage and Desert Holiday). These logos needed to fit within the existing suite of logos and will be used in promotional materials and marketing campaigns.

Digital Design

Example social media graphics and copy (left) and an email template for sending communications via MailChimp (right).
Screenshot from website (www.deserthorsepark.com) showing how to present our dates to exhibitors. We had a problem of uniformly displaying the dates with some events being one week versus eight weeks. I worked with our website developer to establish a concept that allows for a clean initial presentation of the season's dates, but allows exhibitors to click 'MORE INFO' for the exact weeks and dates.

Print Design

Example print advertisements for the 2020/2021 show season and a specific call out for our NEW Desert Holiday horse show. The advertisements are distributed across the country to inform potential exhibitors about our horse show dates.

Prizes and Way-Finding

Prizes were designed with the established branding in mind: simple and sophisticated. Bridle ribbons, neck ribbons, and coolers (blankets) were supplied to winners of our highlight classes.
A fun twist on our traditional prizes for our pony highlight class. I designed neon colored ribbons and coolers (blankets) to help make the class more kid-oriented.
The neon pony ribbons and cooler (blanket) in action!
Way-finding is an important investment at the largest equestrian show facility in the country. We paired the signs with a friendly and thankful voice to help lift moods across the property. Visual representations were also included to help increase legibility as most of our exhibitors would be reading this walking past on a horse or zooming by in a golf cart.
A shade structure for horses. The property owners built a shade structure for horses and riders to fit underneath to escape the desert sun. Rather than leave the structure bare, I designed a large sign of our logo to help brand the facility.