Sweetwater Gainesville
Brand Strategy, Brand Identity System, Creative Direction, Naming
Student housing often competes on features. Sweetwater was an opportunity to compete on meaning. My second year at the University of Florida, I created the identity for LV Collective's first Florida development. Inspired by Sweetwater Wetlands Park, my and many other students’ beloved escape from campus life, I developed the name, positioning, messaging, visual identity, and brand system around a simple idea: student housing should feel less like a transaction and more like a place where people can discover who they want to become. Drawing from the property's modern art deco interiors, I built a brand designed to evoke optimism, creativity, and connection, a place where students could learn, dream, and experience the defining firsts of college life.
The challenge was not simply attracting residents, but creating an emotional connection in a category often defined by amenities and square footage. By positioning Sweetwater as a lifestyle brand rather than a housing development, I translated the experience into a cohesive identity system spanning environmental graphics, signage, print collateral, digital campaigns, social media, merchandise, leasing materials, and creative direction for photography.
The resulting brand helped establish Sweetwater as a distinctive destination in a crowded market and earned multiple American Advertising Awards, including Judges' Choice, Best in Sales & Marketing, Gold in Integrated Brand Identity, Gold in Brochure Design, and Silver in Web Design. More importantly, it became an early example of the approach that continues to shape my work today: using strategy, storytelling, and design systems to create brands people genuinely want to be part of.
2022
Chief Marketing Officer / Kendall Guinn
Director of Marketing / Lauren Little
Director of Video / Patrick Morrison
Director of Interiors + Curation / Chelsea Kloss
Design & Creative Direction / Freya Garcia
Matchbox Studio / Web Design
KVC Photography