WE LUV VIDEO

KEEPING RENTAL CULTURE ALIVE

We Luv Video is a volunteer-run, membership-based nonprofit video store and microcinema in Austin's North Loop neighborhood — the spiritual successor to I Luv Video, which operated for nearly 40 years and held the title of largest and oldest video store in the world before closing in 2020.

This isn't a brand that competes with streaming. It's a brand that exists because streaming can't replace it.

The Scope

My work spans brand expression, membership design, social and video content, physical installation, and media repair — all volunteer, all ongoing as needed.

A NONPROFIT WITH A MANIFESTO

We Luv Video's brand language is already sharp: "The revolution will not be streamed." That's not a tagline — it's a position. The brand exists at the intersection of cultural preservation, community gathering, and the argument that physical media matters in ways licensing agreements and platform decisions can never replicate.

The Brief

Working within that brand meant understanding what it stood for before touching anything. The identity isn't nostalgic for nostalgia's sake — it's making a genuine argument about access, preservation, and the fragility of streaming libraries. Creative decisions had to serve that argument, not just the aesthetic.

BRAND EXPRESSION ACROSS MULTIPLE SURFACES

Lifetime Membership Cards

Designed membership cards for We Luv Video's lifetime members — the people who funded the store's existence and committed to its mission before the doors opened. These aren't loyalty cards. They're artifacts. The design had to carry the weight of that.

VCR Streaming Box — Window Display Installation

Built a custom VCR-form streaming box currently in use in the store's window display. A physical object designed to communicate the brand's core tension — old format, new function — in a single glance from the street. Currently in active display use.

Social and Video Content

Produced social content and video content for the store's channels, working within the brand voice and serving an audience that is genuinely knowledgeable about film and has no patience for generic content marketing.

Physical Installation and Media Repair

Cabinet installation, electrical work including wall sockets, and VCR repair. The brand experience at We Luv Video includes the physical space and the working condition of the media. Keeping that functional is part of keeping the brand credible.

REFRESHING A BRAND THAT EARNED ITS IDENTITY THE HARD WAY

We Luv Video inherited cultural equity from I Luv Video — 40 years of Austin film history, a legendary collection, and a community that mourned the original store's closing. The new brand had to honor that lineage without being trapped by it.

The Approach

The work wasn't starting from scratch and it wasn't a straight refresh. It was understanding what the community already believed about this place and making sure every creative output — cards, content, installation, display — reinforced rather than diluted that belief.

VOLUNTEER WORK IS STILL REAL WORK

The entire We Luv Video staff is volunteer. That changes nothing about the quality standard — it raises it. Work produced here has no client budget, no agency brief, and no approval process to hide behind. It either serves the brand and the community or it doesn't.

The Connection

We Luv Video and Hyperreal Film Club share volunteers and occasionally collaborate — two Austin institutions committed to the argument that cinema is worth showing up for in person.