Illustration · 2018
Poster and event identity for the 14th annual Buffalo Gap Wine & Food Summit, celebrating the food, wine and culture of Latin America through a visual system inspired by traditional tilework and festival flags.
The 14th annual Buffalo Gap Wine & Food Summit focused on Latin America, bringing chefs and winemakers together for a weekend built around the food, wine and culture of the region. The program included chefs such as Tim Byres of Smoke and John Cox of The Bear and Star, along with wines from Texas, California and Casa Madero in Mexico.
The visual direction grew from Tom and Lisa Perini’s travels through Portugal and Mexico, where they had spent time studying the food and wine along with the decorative tilework found throughout both countries. I used that as the starting point for the poster, combining the geometry and color of those tiles with festival flags and simplified icons tied to Buffalo Gap.
The result was a system that felt celebratory without becoming overly decorative, and the tile concept gave us a structure that could easily extend beyond the poster. The same visual language was carried into the event program, T-shirts and other materials, helping give the entire weekend a consistent identity.
With a mariachi band and traditional Mojigangas opening the event, the design fit naturally into the atmosphere of the Summit while still feeling connected to Buffalo Gap and the character the event had built over the years.