Hidden Hero Awards
Role
Lead Graphic Designer, Project Manager, Motion Graphics Designer
Tools
Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, InDesign
Project
In November 2025, the inaugural Hidden Hero Awards hosted by the International Spy Museum ushered in a new opportunity to recognize those who have made outsized contributions to the Intelligence Community in the United States. The Awards took shape as a high-end fundraising gala to support the Museum’s non-profit mission, “[creating] experiences that shed light on the shadow world of espionage”. As the senior graphic designer, I created the full branding package, complete with everything needed for the promotion, communication, and production surrounding the event.
Final deliverables included branding package, logo design, motion graphics, collaboration with external vendors for stage design and award fabrication, challenge coin, web and promotional content, event signage, program booklet, and creative direction and management of video production.
Branding
With Hidden Hero being the premier fundraising event, the visual identity needed to be distinct but firmly at home in the larger Museum brand. Conducting market research to understand other fundraising galas enabled us to create something that felt familiar to our audience while bringing its own flavor. Honing in on the idea of “coming out of the shadows”, I created a sleek, minimalist brand experience with dynamic type and touches of red to accentuate the restricted black and white color palette. Brand elements play with shapes like spotlights and the iconic light beams from the front of the Museum’s building. I balanced the minimalistic sensibilities with a touch of film noir by adding a touch of a grit and noise.
Early sketches and original moodboard pitch.
Starting with the Spy Museum’s primary brand font, Interstate, I adjusted each character, paying special attention to kerning and stretching elements of the font to add dynamic energy. This motion is further evoked by the gradient applied to each letter–creating the sense that it is melting out of the darkness. It reinforces the idea of a “grand reveal” and paves the way for great motion graphic elements.
This brand direction created the framework for every piece of creative, from the invitation email to the environmental design. I designed many of the pieces on my own while offering creative direction and coordination with external fabrication vendors and internal teams.
“...From the very start of this project, [Emily] went above and beyond ensuring each deliverable reflected the Museum’s mission and carried through the event branding she developed. ...”
“Working with Emily on the International Spy Museum's first annual Hidden Hero Awards was a great experience. From the very start of this project, she went above and beyond ensuring each deliverable reflected the Museum's mission and carried through the event branding she developed. She was an incredible partner throughout the course of the project and produced designs that elevated the entire event. The Hidden Hero Awards were such a success thanks to Emily's expertise!”
– Mary Claire Tansil, Special Events Fundraising Coordinator, International Spy Museum
Deliverable Highlights
Sponsorship Packet
To empower our fund development department to sell sponsorships, we designed a document with all the necessary information to pitch to potential corporate sponsors. This document was updated throughout the pre-event timeline, keeping the language relevant and accurate.
Save-the-Dates and Invitation Emails
Emails were the primary source of communication with event participants in order to boost efficiency while minimizing production costs. I designed custom GIF headers to add dynamic intrigue to the delivery.
Award Design and Take Home Piece
A meaningful award to bestow on our honorees was a top priority for the development team. Taking inspiration from the tradition of military challenge coins, I studied the art of heraldry to design a piece that was imbued with meaning. Each element was chosen to relate to the 2025 theme: Women Intelligence Trailblazer. A smaller, coin version was placed at each table setting and each awardee got a larger medal version with their name embossed into the design.
Initial design pitch and final hi-fi rendering.
Challenge coin take home piece sitting at a place setting. The pouch included a small card which explained some of the imagery.
2025 awardees accepting their medals. Three “Women Intelligence Trailblazers”, from left to right: Susan Miller, Dawn Meyerriecks, and Virginia Hall (posthumously, accepted on behalf of Hall by Katherine Keene, VP of Exhibitions & Collections at the International Spy Museum).
Event Program
As guests arrived for the seated dinner, they found a 20-page booklet at their seats which covered order of events, a donation CTA, sponsor ads, awardee bios, and more. I designed the white cover to reinforce the idea of things being brought into the light, revealed, and, additionally, to stand out nicely against the mostly dark tablescapes.
Motion Graphics
I collaborated with our internal video production team to produce an opener and a interview video featuring our awardees and their colleagues. In addition to creative direction, script writing, storyboarding, image sourcing, and production assistance, I created a number of motion graphics templates for on-brand lower thirds and interstitials between sections.
Due to confidentiality, I can’t share the full videos, but this highlight reel showcases some of my specific contributions.
“Emily brought the 2025 Hidden Hero Awards to life through her exceptional creativity, dedication, and collaborative spirit. Thanks in large part to her design leadership across all creative collateral, we raised over $740,000 in support of SPY and its mission.”
Conclusion
The 2025 Hidden Hero Awards was a huge success, completely selling out both tickets and sponsorships, bringing in over $700k in donations–exceeding budgets by 40%. Internally, it was the leanest production budget ever achieved by a Spy Museum event of its kind and it significantly reduced strain on internal teams to implement. Post-event debriefs highlighted minor learnings, but for the most part, our leadership’s resounding feedback was “let’s do that again”. The branding is flexible enough to adapt with each year, keeping things fresh, while also being distinctly “SPY” and an event that participants can look forward to for years to come.
