A look back at WordCamp Asia 2024 regarding the design setup and what we created.
Grand Design and Key Visual
Designers in charge: Corey, All members
This is where the WordCamp Asia 2024 design team began its journey.
We started moving at the beginning of July and began discussing whether we should make any major changes from the 2023 design.
We thought we could make some adjustments in the direction of changing the colors of the 2023 design.
But the members chose to try a new design, and Witt, the leader of the 2023 design team, gave us the nudge.
So we decided to work on a completely new design.
Local Taiwanese members and members from outside of Taiwan worked together to reconcile their respective images of “Taiwan” and “Asia”.
Local member Albert came up with the idea of a design underlay that would show the people of Taiwan a bright future starting here.
He also proposed a gradation of colors to represent the diversity of Asia.
The leader, Junko, adopted Albert’s taste. The entire design team came up with gradient-based ideas, and after soliciting input from team leads and others via an anonymous form, Corey finally created the grand design, including the key visuals.
Featured images
Designers in charge: Hend
This was an enormous task. This time, the design team only created the design as a template, and Hend from the communications team at Figma was in charge of creating the featured image. The communication team was in control of the submission, so it was great to be able to share the work with the other teams in this way.
Website Design
Designers in charge: Spencer, mimi
Basic components and template design
Attendee Badges
Designers in charge: Spencer
Patterned after the 2023 badges, different gradient designs and color schemes were used to differentiate between the badge types. Something different this year was the use of a QR code that led to the resources page on the website.
Xingang Booth
Designers in charge: mimi
This year’s key visual is a beautiful but strong gradient, so bringing it directly into the booth background was a bit tough for the sponsors. And, the colors of corporate logos are mostly blue-based. The design was born for this reason. Repeating the same design in a small, side-by-side booth would make catching the eye with only a logo difference difficult, so we used a loop of three patterns.
Venue Maps
Designers in charge: Chelsea
I am honored and grateful to be entrusted with such an important task by Junko, despite joining later in the process. It has been a valuable experience for me.
From the initial rough sketches to the final drafts, there were numerous revisions and countless moments of discussion with other teams. The commenting feature on Figma proved to be invaluable during these times, allowing team members to provide suggestions directly on the drafts, which was very helpful and clear. Just before submission, we also had Green from the sponsorship team double-check the sponsor details.The map and main visual elements maintained a consistent tone. Due to the complexity of the map, it was necessary to systematically define certain features, such as sponsor colors and the colors for different venues. During this phase, mimi and Junko provided valuable suggestions on color schemes. Given the limited space available, evenly distributing detailed information for each floor would have overcrowded the layout. Therefore, we scaled the details according to their importance. Junko and other team members also contributed valuable insights to finalize the layout.
It was only later in the process that we realized the website needed a map page to help attendees locate themselves more easily. As the overall map had already been roughly determined by this point, creating additional pages was not too difficult. TICC Floor Plans
Slides for Opening & Closing remarks
Designers in charge: Corey
Photo props
Designers in charge: Hui
Stamp for HelpHub
Designers in charge: Junko
Digital Screen Signages
Designers in charge: Spencer
Swag & Items
Designers in charge: All members
Sticker and language sticker
Designers in charge: Spencer
Photo by Ryonosuke Kaneko / CC BY 4.0
Tote bags
Designers in charge: Hui
- Finished product pictures
T-shirts
Designers in charge: Corey
Taiwan beer glasses
Designers in charge: mimi
Neck Lanyards (for Organizers)
Designers in charge: Hend
Pins
Designers in charge: Junko
Key ring
Designers in charge: Spencer
Meal tokens
Designers in charge: mimi
Venue Signages
Designers in charge: All members
Time schedule
Designers in charge: Hend
Contributor day‘s signages
Designers in charge: Hui
Hanging banners and Hanging banner above the escalator
Designers in charge: mimi
We were planning sponsorships for the banners in these two locations and were unable to finalize the details until the very last minute. It was good to finally be able to use the variations in the material that had been prepared for the key visuals by Corey.
Reception counter, Information counter, Main visual at the entrance
Designers in charge: Corey
Community corner
Designers in charge: Junko, mimi
Since we got the order after the pre-print deadline, we decided to use a design that could be printed on a standard copy machine. Since the day printing will inevitably occur, preparing a format in advance for this purpose may be one solution.
Organizer board and Sponsor board
Designers in charge: Spencer
This was particularly challenging since the organizer board involved getting photos and information from all the organizers. With the help of Vanita, the operations lead, we were able to get everything done on time.
Like the organizer board, the sponsor board also posed a bit of a challenge in getting all the correct information as there were a few last minute changes in terms of the logos sponsors wanted to use as well as some other minor details.
Sponsor Direction Sticker
Designers in charge: Spencer
Floor map board
Designers in charge: Chelsea
Standing Signages
Designers in charge: mimi, Junko
Contributor Day Table Signages
Designers in charge: mimi
Management
Manager in charge: Junko
This design team used GitHub to manage tasks.
While we shared and used Figma as our main tool, we also used Illustrator and Indesign for printed materials.
Various data was shared using Google Drive.
Using GitHub was a great experience. We first tried to manage the schedule with a spreadsheet, but to be honest, it didn’t work.
In terms of what didn’t work, we initially tried to assign responsibilities in large categories such as venue signage, web design, and Swag design, but there was so much work in each category that we ended up with the entire design team working on all categories. This was not the original plan, but I think it turned out to be a good thing, as we were all able to understand each other’s work and strengthened the team.
I don’t think we communicated the big schedule well enough to all the team members, so we need to improve this in the future.
The design team needs to work closely with all teams. I am not good at English, so I think I had to put up with a lot of patience from other team members and from the design team members. Thank you for being patient with me!
The amount of tasks inevitably increases, and I hope we can improve on this in the future. The addition of local members to Swag and venue maps and signage in the second half was very helpful.
Thanks to the design team members who did a lot of the work.
Recommendations for next organizer
- Need help from local members regarding venue and Swag (ordering)
- The form in which the design team created a template and had each team work on it (as in the featured images) was very good. It may be necessary to check quality lines, but it would be good to move forward with this in the future.
What was left from 2023 but could not be done in 2024
- Considering the deadlines for various productions, the deadline for sponsorship applications (payment confirmation) should be two or one and a half months in advance.
- It is recommended that you have a list of items and signage to keep for your record photographs and ask your AV team to take photographs at the venue to keep them as record.
- If you receive ambiguous requests from other teams, guide them to prepare a clear plan with an approved budget.
Are you ready for WCAsia 2025? Let’s apply!
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Thank you so much for your reading!