Branding TED’s Conferences
To date our team has designed the visual identities and supporting collateral systems for three incredible TED events – the TEDCity2.0 conference in New York City (which was also developed into an online platform), the TEDWomen2013 Invented Here conference in San Francisco, and the TEDWomen2015 Momentum conference in Monterey, CA.
As a global community of people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world, TED events cover anything from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. A one-day conference devoted to exploring the future of cities, TEDCity2.0 took place in New York in September 2013, and was streamed all over the world with local TEDx events happening simultaneously in close to a hundred cities across the globe. In developing the visual identity for the event, our team created a flexible branding system using a library of customizable photographic and graphic parts that could be assembled and reassembled by each locally-organized team participating in this global conversation.
How does urbanization transform the ways in which people live, work, consume, heal, learn, move, and love?
– Chris Anderson, John Cary, & Courtney Martin, Hosts of TEDCity2.0
Our customizable branding system was built around a core TEDCity2.0 logotype, with a supporting kit of parts that included geometric shapes, patterns, drawn elements, and an assortment of structural images to inspire the creation of limitless configurations of collaged cityscapes. In addition to the visual identity for the event, our team also designed the program guide along with templates for a variety of event collateral and signage applications.
The online platform
One year after the event, we designed and developed www.tedcity2.org – a digital archive of all of the talks and supporting digital content gathered TEDCity2.0 events to date. Running on WordPress, the website serves as just one more extension of the TEDCity2.0 brand.
Following the success of TEDCity2.0, our team went on to design the visual systems and collateral for two ground-breaking TEDWomen conferences. TEDWomen2013 Invented Here – celebrating invention in all of its forms, and TEDWomen2015 Momentum – exploring the bold ideas that power how we think, live and work. Developing the branding for both events not only allowed us to build on the core TED identity in unique ways each time, our design systems extended into all of the supporting materials for each event and gave rise to an assortment of print, digital and environmental applications. This video is just one of those highlights.
