The sifted event in London, UK, is where many prominent organisations in tech, ai, and startups like to have a presence. in 2022, the event stand design received many compliments, with many saying the design did not make Latham feel like a law firm, and generated more interest and conversations.
For 2023 the partners were very keen to build upon this and so the design needed to catch attention.
2022 Design
2023 Design Process
V1
The stand for 2023 was a much bigger centrepiece of the event, with designs needed to be created for the Front, and podium as with 2022, but also the back and inner and outer sides of the stand. To help with this process, and as A first for the design process at Latham, I turned to 3d renders to pre-visualise all designs as part of the review process, rather than flat 2D designs. This drew many compliments and helped the team be able to see what the final piece looked like.
Design 1 was purposefully created to express forward positive motion with arrowhead shapes and smaller design elements, calling out to the events TECH, AI, and Startup attendees. It was also designed to push the boundaries of what was a Latham look.
Design 2 featured a very prominent callback to the 2022 design. I wanted to talk about the rapid advances that the TECH, AI, and Startup space was experiencing in 2023. Like an explosion into the future with LATHAM at the centre, as a presence, you can rely on to help you.
Design 3 featured similar "zoomed-in" movement shapes to the 2022 design. This was to feel like the entire tech space is on the verge of something fantastic and everyone is shooting for the stars. The colour choice was also brighter and more optimistic.
Design 4 was about a layered reality, with colours ranging from hot to cold and graphical elements showcasing forward progression and movement.
2023 Design Process
V2
Designs 2 and 3 made the next phase of the design process. The LATHAM team want to explore several ideas with changes in colour, logo size and position as well as trying out several new elements in place.
2023 Design Process
V3
phase 3 of the design process saw Design 2 chosen to take forward and saw several design requests from stakeholders. These included reducing the circle size to feel less crowded, Options on the stand QR code, and Further logo revisions and we were also able to use the renders to visualise what the proposed TV's screen size would look like. (the smaller 55" was chosen).
The biggest change saw the core design expression mirrored to change from moving away from the Latham logo to moving towards this. Although the timelines were very tight I was able to implement these over a weekend working with stakeholders in the US.
2023 Design Process
V4
The final design went through several more revisions over the next couple of days before signoff. The circles were further refined, the design redrawn to allow more whitespace around the logo, updated shooting stars, and the 3D visuals helped move this process along at pace.
Alongside the stand, animated SOCIAL media content was also created, along with giveaways (jelly bean SWAG) for the day.
