For 50 years, the Texas Apartment Association (TAA) has led the rental housing industry through innovation, commitment to service, and collaboration, and advocates for over 7 million Texans that live at members’ properties. Each year TAA hosts the country’s premier educational and professional development conference for the 1.4 million Texans working in the industry. TAA tasked us with coming up with a name for the annual event and establishing an evergreen brand.

Our goals in branding the conference were to ensure it aligned with the parent TAA brand; reflected the culture, values, and direction of TAA; and represented the diverse membership across the state—from geography to demographics to professions—and their experiences at the conference. We conducted qualitative research with key stakeholders, including board members, event chairs, past attendees, and vendors. Again and again, we heard there was pride in the industry and their jobs, a sense of family and community, a feeling of privilege in being able to attend, and attendees walked away re-energized for their work and ability to be a leader in the industry.

We named the signature event the “TAA ONE” conference to cement its status as the one place rental housing professionals can go for Opportunity, Networking, and Education to advance their careers. We incorporated elements of the TAA brand into the TAA ONE logo and visual identity to ensure brand longevity: the tilted angle of the star, its text-level typeface, and the conference’s primary colors. We also provided a broad-ranging color palette and sample color combinations to illustrate the brand’s flexibility and ways to keep the event feeling “fresh” each year.