TEDxGrandRapids, 2014-2015
As the Design Lead for TEDxGrandRapids, I facilitated the execution of two conceptually-driven, fully immersive days of ‘idea spreading’ in downtown Grand Rapids in both 2014 and 2015. Each year, the largely volunteer run team spent nearly 6 months developing and coordinating plans to host the 850+ people that would attend the live event, plus an additional 1600 hosted off-site during Live Stream For Education, a student-focused extension event.
The 2014 theme “What’s Connected?” was inspired by big data and our hyper-connected society. The lead organizer and I worked with Conduit Studios to create an identity comprised of multiple “bits” representing the major flow of information we’re faced with everyday, as well as the different types of individuals who participate in the event.
In 2015, the fifth year of the event, the team was feeling an urge to challenge assumptions and conventional wisdoms, which was reflected in both the theme “Constant Change” and its visual branding, which centered around duality and binary opposition, as well as a conspicuous omission
of “TED red”.
of “TED red”.
