Beyond Aesthetics – How to Create Impact Through Design
Design and marketing for our one-day design conference, from the first moodboard to the slides on the day.
Challenge
Beyond Aesthetics: How to Create Impact Through Design was a one-day conference run by my class for other students and anyone interested in design. We organised the whole event, from finding the venue through design and marketing to running the day itself. Our four speakers talked about how design can impact people, companies and work through four topics: femtech, GenAI, introversion and private life.
My role
I was the team leader of the communication design and marketing team. I guided, iterated on and approved the designs, and communicated with the other groups and their leaders.
About the conference
My class took on the job of organising this event, with the motto:
Our class did everything (with some help from our professor), including finding the venue, inviting experts to speak about their experience, and the design itself. My team took care of the design.
Vision
It was hard: the design itself had to make an impact, spark people's interest and stay in their memory so they would connect it to the conference later.
First, everyone made a three-picture moodboard of their vision. Then we came together and talked about what we liked in each design. This gave us the basics of our vision:
- Colourful
- Geometry based
- A repeating element
- A shape as the logo
- Between minimalistic and chaotic
Design
With the vision set, we came together and made the very first drafts, which became the final design. Then everyone designed their own part in this style, and we iterated, implemented and approved them.
Teasers for the university’s social media accounts and the Eventbrite cover
Social media posts with the details
Stories, the timetable handout and the poster
Presentation and TV slides used during the event
Pictures from the conference
After all the work on the designs, we saw everything come together and look great at the conference.
Conclusion
As it was my first time as a team leader, leading was the hardest part. I had to find ways to lead and motivate my group. I know I didn't always manage it well, but I grew a lot in this area.
The design itself wasn't a problem, as I had experience with it. This came in handy, as I could give constructive criticism about typography, layouts and more to raise the design to a professional level.
We were aiming to make an impact, and we concluded that we succeeded: we got many compliments on the design, were told it looked professional, and even a week or two later people were still complimenting it.