The Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC) is AnitaB.org's flagship event promoting women and nonbinary individuals in tech with a strong focus on diversity and inclusion. A new design proposal seeks to modernize the GHC app, aligning it more closely with the event's mission.
Introduction The Grace Hopper Conference
The Challenge The GHC branding, app, and design do not reflect the core values and mission of the organization. My objective: develop a concept that more accurately represents its essence.
📋 Overview
The Grace Hopper Celebration is the AnitaB.org flagship event. Created in 1994 and inspired by the legacy of Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, the focus of the event is to bring the research and career interests of women and nonbinary people in tech to the forefront. The celebration is a conference that results in collaborative proposals, networking, and mentoring for the attendees.
GHC focuses on DEI and centering oppressed, underrepresented, and minorities in the industry. Attendees range from students in search of mentors, internships and entry level positions to experienced individuals seeking new perspectives and network. All careers in tech are represented; people new to tech or looking to get into it can attend to make connections and gain insight on how to break into the field.
GHC recognizes the importance of diversity in tech, and offers professional development aid throughout the conference. Today, it is the world’s largest gathering of women and nonbinary technologists.
My redesign + brand guide showcases minimalistic branding with depth, shadows, and 3D design that is representative of GHC. It pulls in the layers and complexity of the tech industry - a simple outlook with the details needed for it to succeed. This branding follows the aesthetic of modern big tech, but showcases in bold colors and fun imagery that juxtapose the otherwise classic, clean design.
Research / Conference + Application Analysis
I conducted surveys and interviews with 30 attendees, including peers, mentors, and colleagues who had been to GHC 2022 and previous conferences. The research aimed to understand their conference experiences and GHC app usage, enhancing the overall experience and app usability.
Additionally, I explored conference advertising's impact on awareness, audience perception, and overall impressions, influencing the creation of our brand guide.
Key Points from Findings ⬇️
The feedback from this diverse group serves as a valuable resource, aiding in the continuous improvement of the conference and app for an enhanced user experience.
Brand Guide / Branding
⭐ Value Proposition
The GHC provides an inclusive, seamless design experience built on the idea that access to usable platforms and helpful networks for everyone is essential to good design.
💬 Voice + Tone
The Voice is an Extension of the Brand Our voice, like our logotype, is representative of the GHC - it is clear, concise, and straightforward. The GHC is inclusive and helpful, with a no nonsense attitude. Everyone can benefit from what the GHC has to offer.
Our Tone is Complementary Like the brand, our advertising has short, clever messages that are straight to the point. All informational text is concise and easy to understand.
Our Goal is to Inspire + Include Use inclusive terminology and having a focus on diversity is vital to build a safe community and empower attendees. We want everyone to feel comfortable and confident with themselves and their abilities, and encourager all to strive for success.
Brand Guide / The Visuals
👥 Visual Identity
The GHC visual identity showcase its values, philosophy, and goals. With its focus on diversity, equity, and inclusivity, the GHC strives to create visuals that demonstrate inclusivity and allow for everyone for to represented. The visual brand is clean and concise, while maintaining a playful, fun, and modern feel. With its clear design, the visual brand is a design experience that invites interaction.
🖥️ Career Representation / Playful, Modern
🧑🏽🤝🧑🏿 Identity Inclusive w/ Modern Design
🧑🏽🤝🧑🏿 Focus on Diversity w/ Clear, Fun Design
✍🏽 Logo + Typeset
The main logo is typeset in Inter Bold, a san serif font. It is a classic associated whose style is associated with popular tech companies. It is representative of the industry, with its products having a minimal, clean aesthetic.
This typeface compliments that design and images with rather than competing with them. Use blue, orange, and grey as the logo colors with the addition of the pride flag colors as appropriate. In addition, inner shadows are used to add depth.
Brand Guide / Typography
✍🏽 Typeface
The logotype is set in Inter Bold, a classic san serif typeface with clean edges and curves. It is reminiscent of technology brands today, but still has its individuality. Inter provides a stunning, clean, and modern typeface that represents that GHC’s brand. The supporting typeface is Helvetica, which has similar stylistic design to Inter, and compliments the logotype. However, the strictly horizontal and vertical terminals of this font give it a more crisp and clean appearance that is needed for body copy.
→ Headlines + Quotes Inter Bold
→ Sub Headings + Titles Helvetica Regular
→ Body Copy Helvetica Light
📕Headline + Quotes
The logotype is set in Inter Bold, a classic san serif typeface with clean edges and curves. It is reminiscent of technology brands today, but still has its individuality. Inter provides a stunning, clean, and modern typeface that represents that.
📘 Subheadings + Titles
The supporting typeface is Helvetica, which has similar stylistic design to Inter, and compliments the logotype. However, the strictly horizontal and vertical terminals of this font give it a more crisp and clean appearance that is needed for copy.
📗 Body Copy
Helvetica is also used for the body, but in a lower weight to maintain hierarchy.
📓 How it should Look →
Brand Guide / Color
🎨 The Color Palette
The palette is designed to remind users of the clean, sharp, and bright colors for tech branding. Pulled from Mac folder options, blue and orange were chosen as they best represent the professional and gender neutral style of the brand.
Primary Colors Blue Jean, Davys Grey
Secondary Colors White, Indian Yellow
👍🏽 How to Use Color
Color is an vital way to create a branded look for the Grace Hopper Celebration. When using colors, make sure to create contrast between them for clear legibility. Only use the following combinations to stay on brand:
👎🏽 How to Not Use Color
Below are examples and guidelines on how not to use the logo and color combinations. Logos should not be used without the specificied color combinations to ensure legibility and proper contrast. Do not change colors, distort the logo, or alter the typeface in any way.
Brand Guide / Images
📷 Image Guidelines
To maintain the brand identity, GHC has a specific style of images that are used to convey the playful, modern tone that it follows. Imagery should be used to promote inclusivity and provides a sense of representation and personalization.
📰 Image Identity
Juniper (she/her) is the poster person for GHC. She is used on promotional materials and is the representative mascot.
💛 Primary Image Set
GHC has a strict set of images that are representative of the brand. Variations of Juniper are allowed as follows. Only images from the following set may be used for the brand. Images may not be distorted in any way except mirroring. Cropping is allowed if complimentary to the logo and design. Filters and color alterations are not allowed.
🧡 Secondary Image Set
Variations of the following characters are allowed to in content and promotional materials to provide a representation. Images may not be distorted in any way except mirroring. Cropping is allowed if complimentary to the logo and design. Filters and color alterations are not allowed.
👌 Image Do’s and Dont’s
YES mirroring, cropping, scaling NO filters, color alterations, distortion
