Client work

Normal Theater · Jan – May 2026

Foxtail
Film Festival.

Role
Creative Director
Timeline
Jan 2026 – May 2026
Tools
Adobe Creative Suite
Scope
Motion · Print · Wayfinding · Social

As Creative Director I designed the pieces a festival-goer meets from start to finish: the program in their hands, the map that gets them parked, the posts that bring them in and the bumpers on the big screen between films.

The client & my role

A student-run festival at the Normal Theater.

Foxtail is a film festival put on by Illinois State students, with screenings, workshops and Q&As at the Normal Theater. It showcases ISU student films alongside high school and college shorts from across the country, ending with an awards ceremony.

As Creative Director I worked with the festival's other divisions to make assets that served every team, all built on Foxtail's orange, cream and black identity and a collage style of halftone photos, torn paper and cut-outs of the Normal Theater.

  • Motion graphics
  • Event branding
  • Editorial layout
  • Wayfinding
  • Illustration
  • Social media
01 — Bumpers

Next up, on the big screen.

Bumpers played in the Normal Theater between screening blocks, telling the audience what's coming next and which films are in it. Halftone stills from the films sit behind a torn-paper edge, with the festival's collage pieces along the bottom.

"Next Up: ISU Shorts" bumper, playing at the Normal Theater

A joint collaboration: I designed the bumper graphics, and the festival's technician committee rendered them into video.

02 — Trifold program

Three days, one fold.

The festival program: a trifold with the full schedule from Thursday, April 23 to Saturday, April 25. Each event gets a time, a location and a short description, with film stills and guest photos to break up the text, a founding note and accommodation details.

Inside spread of the orange Foxtail trifold program in Illustrator, with the schedule for April 23 to 25, film stills, a photo of the Normal Theater at night, a founding note and an accommodations panel
Inside spread, in progress in Illustrator
Inside spread of the orange Foxtail trifold program in Illustrator, with the schedule for April 23 to 25, film stills, a photo of the Normal Theater at night, a founding note and an accommodations panel
Inside spread, in progress in Illustrator
03 — Parking map

"Where do I park?" Answered.

A map of Uptown Normal that answers the question every guest asks. It marks the Normal Theater, the parking decks and nineteen nearby places to eat, with parking prices and a QR code to the Town of Normal's parking page. The festival posted it on Instagram and credited me.

Map of Uptown Normal in black, orange, cream and blue, with a star at the Normal Theater, four parking decks, 19 numbered restaurants and shops, and parking hours and prices beside a QR code
Shared by @foxtailfilmfest: "Map made by @omend.png"
04 — Award laurels

Laurels, grown from foxtails.

I helped redesign the festival's laurels for 2026. Instead of generic leaves, each side is built from the chevron foxtail stalks in Foxtail's logo, around the festival's own wordmark, so a laurel on a winning film's poster or trailer still reads as Foxtail. One system covers the Official Selection and six awards across college and high school categories, and it stretched to the Shorts Spotlight and to the festival's own posts promoting each screening.

Foxtail Film Festival 2026 Official Selection laurel in cream, framed by stalks of foxtail chevrons from the festival logo
Official Selection
Foxtail Film Festival 2026 laurel: Best College-University Narrative Film, framed by foxtail stalks
Foxtail Film Festival 2026 laurel: Best College-University Documentary Film, framed by foxtail stalks
Foxtail Film Festival 2026 laurel: Best College-University Animation/Experimental, framed by foxtail stalks
Foxtail Film Festival 2026 laurel: Best High School Narrative Film, framed by foxtail stalks
Foxtail Film Festival 2026 laurel: Best High School Documentary, framed by foxtail stalks
Foxtail Film Festival 2026 laurel: Best High School Animation, framed by foxtail stalks
A @foxtailfilmfest Instagram post for Saturday, April 25: a Shorts Spotlight laurel beside stills from Girl Dad and Treasure at 3 PM, then High School and College Official Selection laurels for the 6:30 PM closing screening, above collage cut-outs of the Normal Theater and the line free screenings at the Normal Theater
In use: the laurels promoting Saturday's screenings on @foxtailfilmfest
05 — Social media

The collage, everywhere online.

The cover banner I designed for the festival's Facebook page frames the logo with collage cut-outs: the Normal Theater sign, a shouting mouth, a film camera and a downtown building. For Illinois State's Birds Give Back campaign, I designed a testimonial post that pairs an alumna's memory of the first festival with the theater's marquee.

The Foxtail Film Festival Facebook page with Oscar's cover banner: the logo on orange between black-and-white cut-outs of the Normal Theater sign, a mouth, a checkerboard, a film camera and a brick building, above the page's profile, intro and posts
The cover banner I designed, live on the festival's Facebook page
Birds Give Back post: the Normal Theater marquee reading Foxtail Film Festival in an arch, next to a quote from Miriam Wolff, class of 2023, about being in the first Foxtail class
Birds Give Back testimonial post
omend logo with two stars making out an o in the top left corver

© 2026 Oscar Mendoza. All rights reserved.