Iconosphere is a marketing and consumer insight conference for CEB and CEB Iconoculture clients. Attendance is usually over 400 people, consisting of various levels of experienced professionals; analysts to executives. The conference includes presentations by CEB Iconoculture Strategists on a variety of topics relevant to clients.
For the conference in 2015, I designed the branding for the event. The brand was the executed on a responsive web site, event mobile app, signage, presentations and other materials used at the conference.
When starting the concept work for the brand, I was told that I could push CEB's new corporate brand elements. During my exploration I came up with three ideas I pitched to CEB Iconoculture's senior management.
Direction 1: Close Up Consumers and Action: This concept was the closest to CEB's new brand. Focusing on consumer photography and using the CEB gradients overlayed on the pictures.
Direction 2: Consumers Breaking Through: This concept adds a low poly texture on top of the photography and also increases the range of the CEB gradients (white tones are closer to white). The idea behind the concept was to strategically mask the low poly texture to highlight the focal point of the image (consumer or action), creating another layer of action within the image. The low poly texture also evokes a landscape, and when thinking about the Marketing Landscape, CEB Iconoculture helps clients break through and reach the consumer.
Direction 3: Color Shifting Focus: This concept plays very heavily on the CEB gradient system, but with a twist. Instead of using the poly texture to create focus, I'm using color. As the colors in the gradients start to mix, the image starts to get muddled, but using masks to highlight the focal point of the image, the consumer/actions start to pop out. This helps to evoke CEB Iconoculture's ability to focus on a shifting consumer and marketplace.
After presenting to CEB Iconoculture senior management and CEB Creative Director and Brand Managers, I was told that I went too far. Working with the CEB Creative Director and Brand Managers, we came to a compromise: stick with brand-right gradients, limit color palette and the low poly texture couldn't overlap photography. Based on this direction, we proceeded down the path to create all other materials.
