Event Branding and Design
As the Senior Brand Designer at Okta, I was in charge of doing most of the branding and environmental design for our owned events including this SKO. Like most of these events, the audience (and presenters) were: marketing, the CXOs, and sales.
The greater team consisted of the usual suspects: the internal events team, event producers, the caterers, security, MGM staff, blah blah blah…and a surprising number of bartenders.
The Theme:
“ALL IN” was the theme, in a “when-you’re-fully-committed-to-a-task-or-shared-goal” kinda way. The event team’s idea of using extreme-sports visuals was going to be problematic so I sold them on the idea of “Colorful and Friendly Energy”.
The MGM Grand in Las Vegas isn’t the most neutral palette that any design can live in, so, in creating a brand that suited the venue, the brand, and the visuals, I had to consider: the interior design of the space, the available lighting, the flow of traffic, the sponsor booth area, the time of day/direction of sunlight, the size and layout of three floors, the breakout room walls, tablecloth patterns, available branding options, the main ballroom depth, the distance from the front of the stage to the screen…you get the picture.
My Role:
Brand, Theme and Color design
Main stage graphics, and Powerpoint keynote and breakout templates
Wayfinding and agenda signage templates
Registration desk design
Mini-stage backdrop
Window clings
Helping the PMs and project owners manage design subcontractor for all ancillary design.
Tools:
Cinema 4D
Blender
Adobe Dimensions
Illustrator
Photoshop
Deep Thoughts & Epiphanies:
Take quality photos when touring the venue for the best possible mockups
Remember everyone’s name you work with
Don’t be stingy with the Corp AMEX–make friends with the other team members
Casinos actually slow down around 4:00 am…who knew?
Feedback:
We had fantastic feedback from all the teams involved: everyone loved the colors, the movement and energy. The event producers said it was the the coolest looking event they’ve worked on.