Amplifying your brand pillars and how they empower possibility
Ali+Aaron Creative’s proposal to develop a new design system that showcases who you are and everything you do, all within your existing brand framework.
Prepared for Vail Valley Foundation by Ali+Aaron Creative | 10/08/26
ALITHEA DOYLE
Founder + Art Director
AARON CESSNA
Creative Director
Our Approach
RESPECT THE BRAND
This is an expansion, not a rebrand. Both directions will keep Vail Valley Foundation as the visual hero and work within your established colors, typography, photography and graphic language.
KEEP IT HUMAN
We lean heavily on brand archetypes to help you share your story in a way humans are wired to embrace. This helps us position your value from an audience perspective, and connects instantly with them.
LISTEN + EXCEED
Both directions will answer each exploration area in your brief: the "What We Do" treatment, the VVF portfolio logo lockup, and the four-pillar visual system.
Our Pitch
Direction 1 • The Obvious
Playing the Angles
There’s a clear opportunity to leverage the angle found in the V shape within your logo mark and use it in a graphic, dynamic manner. Something like this can be seen within the scene transitions in your homepage hero video. For Direction 1, we’ll take the opportunity to elevate this dynamic shape from your core identity in a nod to keeping VVF the hero of this endeavor.
Direction 2 • The Unexpected
Playing the Archetypes
As a champion for the community, VVF is clearly the Leader brand archetype. Looking deeper, you also embody the Magician with a brand promise centered on making extraordinary things possible; as well as the Caregiver, with community wellbeing giving that ambition its purpose. Direction 2 will look to express the VVF’s Magician/Caregiver persona in a way that aligns with your core mission to empower possibility.
Modular + Designed to Scale
Both concepts will be designed using Adobe Creative Suite and will work beyond the Vail Daily ads. This includes social, web, email, donor and sponsorship materials, presentations, annual reports, fundraising campaigns, and event signage. We’ll also consider programs and initiatives that don't have a logo of their own.
Relevant Work Samples
With more than five decades of combined experience, Ali+Aaron specialize in building brand toolkits, design systems, and scalable campaigns for resort-market nonprofits. Each project below also included bilingual consideration and executions.
Brand Evolution
Walking Mountains is a sustainability icon. But after 20 years, their entire identity lacked cohesion and needed an update to perform better across all media. This was an evolution, not a rebrand. We honored the brand’s existing equity in color and tone while modernizing its personality and building a comprehensive Brand Standards Guide for an organization of 75+ team members.
See the work here
CAA AWARD OF EXCELLENCE WINNER
Campaign Toolkit
Most everyone loves the mountains. Especially travelers. So Vail Valley Partnership launched a campaign to educate the public on environmentally responsible adventuring in Eagle County. After collaborating with local eco-experts, we helped create a toolkit with illustrated digital and print assets for businesses and organizations to promote this collective destination stewardship effort.
See the work here
Brand Refresh
The Cycle Effect is a Vail Valley success story rooted in the power of possibility. Mentoring young women through mountain biking, TCE expanded into four counties across the Colorado high country in just 10 years. This growth created a need to formalize their branding and comms efforts with more consistency, flexibility, and scalability — all documented and deployed in a lightweight Brand Identity Toolkit.
See the work here
Estimated Cost by Phase
Broken out by concepts, ad series, and handoff. As a first-time nonprofit partner, VVF receives a special rate: 50% off the full value of the work.
Concepts
2 initial concepts, each shown as a full-page print ad
Each concept paired with its own campaign hero message and visuals
Phase + Deliverables
$4,000
$2,000
Ad Series
1 round of revisions to the winning concept
1 additional full-page print ad template to complement the winning concept
$2,400
$1,200
Scaling the Elements
Single image social post template, showcasing 1 pillar
Carousel social post template, showcasing 1 pillar
Email header template with hero media, showcasing 1 pillar
$2,400
$1,200
Final Files + Documentation
All studio files, processed and packaged for handoff
Graphic elements in vector and PNG: color, reversed, and one-color
8–10 page interactive toolkit documenting standards, assets, and use cases
Full Value
$3,200
$1,600
$12,000
Project Total
$6,000
Payment Terms
$3,000 due upon project initiation, balance due upon file handoff.
VVF Rate
Optional Additions, Estimated Separately
Additional full-page ad templates
Spanish-language adaptations of any deliverable
Additional print examples such as popup banners, swag, OOH, etc
Additional Revision Rates
$80/hour is your exclusive first project rate for nonprofits, quoted and approved before work begins.
Key Milestones
We'll work to your schedule, with a single point of contact on each side and consolidated feedback at each review.
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Proposal delivered
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Kickoff: Questions, brand manual, existing ads, logo files, and photo library handoff
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Initial creative concepts presented
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Concept review and direction selected
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Creative development and revisions through November 23
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Final review and refinements
-
Full-page ads and brand expansion system complete, ready for the Christmas-week run
Thank you!
We'd love to help Vail Valley Foundation tell its "one organization, many brands" story. Please reach out if you have questions or would like to talk through anything.
Aaron Cessna
aaron@aliandaaron.com
(970) 393-0793
Alithea Doyle
ali@aliandaaron.com
(303) 746-4602
ALI+AARON CREATIVE
Brand Storytelling, Custom Publishing & Design Systems • Pagosa Springs, CO 81147