PortCon Plus Patreon
PortConMaine has an amazing community of artists. Many of them were impacted by COVID-19, which cancelled the events that many of them attend to sell their work and make a living. We were wondering what PortCon could do to help put some of these friends in the spotlight.
This is what we came up with!
Initial Planning
I started the groundwork on some plans for a Patreon. The base tier would offer basic perks, including a Discord community. The higher tiers would offer a “Sticker Club” subscription. Each month, a new artist and sticker design would be featured. The stickers would ship out with a trading card that includes the artist’s contact information and an image of their work on the back. PortCon would use its platform to promote both the Patreon and the artist of the month.
The Branding
Disney+. Paramount+. Discovery+. We wanted some of that for ourselves. We landed on the name “PortCon Plus” to indicate that this is a PortCon community that thrives even after the convention has packed up for the year. One of PortCon’s mascots is a cute little purple dragon, so I chose a bold purple color to anchor the brand and a friendly, swooshy font for the word mark. Special care was taken to ensure that the branding would work for single-color printing so we could keep the cost of our mailing envelopes down.
Bonus Round!
Sometimes we run gaming events over Discord. We needed an award that we could make easily and send to winners. I chose to buy some plastic medals and modify them with a custom sealing wax stamp. I also bought a big rubber stamp of the design so that I could make a premium-looking envelope without having it custom printed. The results were pretty cool, and I think the folks in our community enjoy receiving these.
Here’s to more PortCon awesomeness as the convention rolls into its 20th year! Check out the Patreon here.