QuickBooks Connect

We invited 5000 attendees to connect with each other and discover new ways to grow their business.

Client

Intuit QuickBooks

Year

2016

Agency

Agency EA

Role

Art Director and graphics lead for branding, signage and digital.

THE TASK

We were asked by Intuit to rethink their QuickBooks Connect conference and bring their ecosystem of small businesses, accountants, developers and the self-employed together for moments of engagement, education and inspiration. A large portion of this ask was to develop a new conference look and feel, strategize new ways to deploy signage and branding, and develop digital interactions through mobile, web and onsite activations.

THE DESIGN PROCESS

When it came to developing the new conference identity, we began by exploring new logos. This logo form would take inspiration from QuickBooks’ color palette and graphic badge shapes.

To pair with the new logo, we would develop a full style guide and strategic “North Star” document to ensure all partners for the event were aligned on the approach for this year’s Connect. Guidelines included logo usage, conference color palette, typographic treatments, graphic element usage, and material moodboards.

Designing for web

Immediately following our branding development, we dove into designing the event website for both attendees and sponsors. Additionally, we created a series of various email templates for various phases leading up to the event. These digital touch-points were designed with the four key audience types in mind: Accounting Professionals, Developers, Small Business Owners, and Self-Employed Individuals.

At each phase of the event life-cycle, we integrated online registration, a custom agenda builder, the mobile event app and onsite NFC technology to maintain an immersive and personalized attendee experience.

PREPARING FOR AN ONSITE TAKEOVER

In preparation for signage and environmental graphic development, I was responsible for leading the graphics team and working closely with our producers and vendors to organize a deployment plan. This ranged from file management, to spec sheets, sponsorship informational packets and coded installation floorplans.

THE RESULTS

Our team took to the San Jose Convention Center and began to transform the 143,000 square foot space into a pure extension of QuickBooks, and a celebration of small businesses everywhere. The final look and feel of the event struck a balance between minimalism and warmth. From the utilization of linear illustrative elements, to elongated environmental vinyls, we wanted to create a visual motif of connections. The splashes of green helped steer the meandering journeys of attendees and represented how everyone forges their own paths within the QuickBooks ecosystem.