Every year ArtsKC and the Kansas City Sports Commission has a Call for Artists to create a commemorative poster for the Garmin Kansas City Marathon every year. The initial stage was to put together a comprehensive or mock-up for the proposed art. The required items being: title, date, distances, and include Kansas City landmarks.
One interesting part of this process was areas of negative space planning layouts. Most notably at the bottom. But my assumption was that selected submissions would eventually include Sponsor and Partner logos, as well as additional information not included in the initial brief.
As for the ideation behind the creative? The Kansas City Marathon is a family event, so moved forward with a cartoon concept. In this case using the state shape of Missouri as the body, but only after confirming the marathon takes place on the Missouri side of KC. To build on the cartoon theme, when with a chibi styling. Then overall for the keyart, both color and the flat motif, were chosen to appeal to a mass market, not only families with the cartoon element.
It was powerful having you as part of the submission group. You offered the KC Marathon team a perspective and vision that they wouldn’t have likely encountered otherwise. I appreciate your professionalism, and all you do to make Kansas City the beautiful place it is.
— Anna Fiorella, ArtsKC
Ultimately I was not chosen to be among the semifinalists. But it was a definite pleasure to submit, and proud of the concepting in this project.