The Strategy
To create a seamless and engaging virtual experience, I took on multiples roles ranging from branding, web design, social media marketing, and virtual environment development. But of coarse, before we could event think about the fun stuff, we had to tackle the branding!
Alrighty, let's start with the the important part:
Establishing the Visual Identity.
Before diving into the event itself, I needed to solidify its branding. This meant starting with its core component... the logo. While I didn’t redesign the logo, I played a key role in adding more definition to it. I helped refine existing shapes, themes, and concepts, and developed alternate layouts and styles to ensure the logo could be applied across various platforms and uses.
To wrap up the branding phase, I expanded the brand guideline document. While some concepts had already been loosely defined, I took on the task of refining and filling in areas such as photo guidelines, illustration/icon guidelines, and adjusting the color palette. The biggest challenge here was balancing the need to differentiate N0CC's branding from its parent company, Giatec, while maintaining enough familiarity with the previous colors for instant recognition. Additionally, I completely redesigned the form of the guidelines document to create a more cohesive and usable resource for future brand applications.
With the brand set in stone, it left us with one major question...
What the h*ck even is this event?
This year's event was going to be groundbreaking! We took an innovative and net-zero approach to tradeshows. Partnering with Heidelberg Materials, we hosted the conference in their Virbela Metaverse Platform. Beofre making any design decisions, I jumped right into Virbela to explore it's capabilites and limitations.
Suffice to say... I had a lot of work ahead of me!
Next up on the to-do list:
Building an Event Website!
With a newfound understanding of the platform, the next step was to create the event's digital hub (it's website). This wasn't just a placeholder for information, no, this site needed to handle everything from registrations and sponsor engagement, to speaker signups and attendee resources all in one place.
Like any great project, it all started with research. I analyzed competitors, scribbling down what worked, what (really) didn't, and more importantly of all, how the heck we plan to stand out. Once I had a strategic direction I hopped into Figma and started designing. I tackled everything from the homepage all the way to speaker signup forms.
Each page was designed to be fully responsive and accessible. After stakeholder approvals, I worked closely with developers to bring the design to life, ensuring a smooth, intuitive user experience.
Supplementary Assets
As we approached the home stretch, the list of to-dos neared completion, I took on everything from designing a prospectus and banners to refining the event layout. I collaborated with speakers to enhance their presentations and worked closely with sponsors to develop visually engaging tradeshow booths. Every last detail mattered
The Results
After months of planning, designing, and fine-tuning, the event was a success! The combination of a strong brand, a well-executed digital presence, and a strategic marketing push resulted in high engagement and positive feedback from attendees.
Too Long, Don't Care:
This project highlights my ability to innovate and adapt to new technologies, creating immersive experiences that drive engagement and results. From research to prototyping to final execution, I bring a meticulous, user-focused approach to every project.