Skills
Art Direction
Branding
Web Design
Signage Design
Production Design
2019 TEDxUF Conference — Legacy
As the Creative Director of TEDxUF, I directed a team to brand our 2019 conference as well as a series of salon events the semester prior including our art showcase. My role entailed designing the event’s website, merchandise, badges, programs, signage, and digital graphics.
Since this was our tenth annual conference, the idea of ‘who we are’ was on our minds. We wanted a theme that encompassed not only the journey that it took to get us here but what we hoped TEDxUF to be beyond our time at the University of Florida. For this reason, our theme was ‘Legacy’. As a university, we all strive to build our own Legacies, whether it be for our futures or for a future we won’t see. We thought this would be the best representation of UF and the type of ideas we want to spread.
Attendees taking part in the labs at the conference, installation by John Walker.
Joey McGinn: “Breaking Down Barriers: LGBTQ+ in Science Fiction”
Branding the Event
To celebrate our ten year anniversary we ventured out of our three part color scheme. In doing so, I put an emphasis on our ‘X’ logo to symbolize the roman numeral, ten. The event’s badges were color coded and personalized for each tier of tickets with a full schedule on its back. I also designed the event’s signage displaying event locations, times, and team members.
Social Media
I created graphics to feature our speakers on social media in the months leading up to the conference. The first graphic is the treatment used for weekly speaker reveals and shows the symbols that represent each talk. These designs were later used for the stage as well. Dr. Paul’s talk featured her studies on the way plants react to a zero-gravity environment and her graphic was featured on the International Space Station’s social media. I also designed a speaker graphic for our ticket drop that was featured in local media, such as The Alligator, in response to our conference selling out within the first day.
Stage Design
I worked with set designer, Levi Kiess, and our curator Laura Uribe to create the TEDxUF stage. We wanted it to tell a story that would interact with each of the talks throughout the conference. Within the branding, each speaker was associated with a simple icon that represented their talk. That was portrayed on the stage by Levi designing ten hanging frames with an icon attached to one of the ‘legacy gradients’. During the breaks and introductions, all frames would be lit representing our TEDxUF legacy as a whole. Then, when a speaker would enter, all the frames went dark with only their icon shown for the duration of their talk. I tasked designer Tiffany Tang with creating the talk slides. We strived for vivid yet minimalistic images and collages to portray the content in a way that was complementary to the stage.
TEDxUF: The 2019 Brand
TEDxUF 2019 was the year we started our podcast and featured guests such as UF President Kent Fuchs. I branded the show and we created promotional graphics for each episode. In addition, I redesigned the website and the director business cards. I chose to use the classic TED colors of black, white, and red to make the materials timeless for future use.
Promotional podcast graphics by Tiffany Tang and cover art by me.
TEDxUF Salons
At a TEDxUFSalon, attendees watch TED Talks, participate in activities, and have dynamic discussions about the talks they witnessed. Salons re-engage our Gainesville and UF community between our main annual TEDxUF conference, and spark discussion on issues of interest to our local community. This year, our Salons span from activism to art and technology and more.
Smart Art by Tiffany Tang
