YIMBYtown is the nation’s largest pro-housing conference, convening more than 1,000 advocates, urban planners, public officials, academics, engineers, architects, and designers for three days of keynotes, panels, and workshops focused on the future of housing and urban development. What began as a grassroots Twitter movement has evolved into one of the most influential voices in the housing conversation. In 2026, the conference comes to Raleigh, North Carolina.
MRC was brought in to develop a strategic brand identity system for the event from the ground up. The challenge was to create a visual identity that felt optimistic, energetic, and deeply community-driven, while reflecting both the grassroots spirit of the YIMBY movement and the creative energy of Raleigh, the host city. The brand needed to balance modernity with authenticity, capturing a youthful, accessible tone without losing the handcrafted character that made the movement resonate in the first place.
Because YIMBYtown evolves from city to city each year, the identity system also needed to establish a scalable creative foundation for future conferences nationwide. Every design decision, from typography and illustration to color and digital experience, was crafted to ensure consistency, flexibility, and long-term recognition across future iterations of the event.
MRC led the project across creative strategy, brand positioning, visual identity design, custom illustration, website design, and web development, with merchandise and additional campaign assets currently in development.
