OUT FOR UNDERGRAD: brand world
the challenge of bringing O4U's 20 years of events under one brand world lies in its diverse array of conferences and people. O4U has hosted conferences focused on fields from life sciences to marketing, in cities from minneapolis to san francisco, sponsored by mid-sized media firms and the world's largest investment banks alike, and all for students from around the world.
rooted in research insights from the organization's alumni and sponsors, a community of thousands ranging from current gen z undergrad students to director-level corporate leaders, i strategized and executed a fresh brand world to carry O4U into the future with visual confidence and cohesion.
PROBLEM & OBJECTIVES
RESEARCH
DESIGN PROCESS
FINAL PRODUCTS
O4U has one central brand & digital team supporting a broader organization of conference organizers, hundreds of independently functioning campus ambassadors, corporate culture consultants, learning and development strategists, and more.
with so many people working to promote the organization, O4U needed a cohesive brand family that the brand & digital team, and those that have to create promotional content as part of their roles outside of the team, could live within that felt true to each event while appealing to the range of ages, industries, and identities of O4U's audiences.
01
modernize
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keep the O4U brand fresh & relevant for their audience
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refine their aesthetic to stand proud amoung their peers
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build recognition of distinctive graphic elements to strengthen their brand
02
templatize
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create smart, relevant templates for volunteers without design backgrounds
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design system for advanced and simplified treatments that co-exist
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ensure brand longevity and success
03
codify
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prioritize transparency and cohesion when documenting standards
the brand & digital team led research to uncover what O4U's students and alumni, especially those like campus ambassadors and conference organizers that depend on the brand visuals to achieve their admissions and sponsorship goals, felt was most true and central to the O4U experience.
respondents overwhelmingly connected O4U to words and concepts around community, connection, inclusion, and joy
dramatic visuals with color and personality felt much more resonant to the O4U experience than more "professional" or "corporate" visuals
respondents wished that O4U branding better exhibited the "life-changing" nature of the event and how much more vibrant it is than other professional conferences
two insights surprised me the most: first, that student respondents cared more about seeing the joy and community they felt at O4U events reflected in these visuals than seeing design trends, and second, that sponsors prioritized the same joyful expression over cut-and-dry corporate content you would expect from what is, essentially, b2b marketing. for them, selling O4U to their company's decisionmakers hinged on how well they could explain the unique environment O4U creates, how positive the event made students feel, and how that feeling transfers to their perception of their company.
this opened the door to lean into more color, style, and delight than we typically get to see in corporate recruiting, learning, and development settings. i sought out design elements that felt modern and met this moment for O4U's students, but weren't so dependent on micro-trends that they'll fall out of style in less than a year.
i turned these insights into 4 key design motifs to mix and match across O4U's assets:
i also took the opportunity to expand the parent brand's color palette from two cool-toned purples to a warmer 3-tone palette, keeping the brand's signature O4U purple, but adjusting the lilac and adding a warm mid-tone to create opportunities for low-contrast designs on par with trends. this was a careful consideration to ensure harmony with each conference's colors.
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O4U's brand world equips the organization with a robust design system that streamlines asset production and prepares it for the years ahead, providing a toolkit for launching new experiences and a resilient visual identity for existing offerings. each motif can be deprioritized or implemented to better speak to a specific audience when necessary, allowing for graceful, easy personalization.
