UCDA Immerse Design Educator Conference
The UCDA (University and College Designers Association) Design Education Summit is an annual national conference where design educators, chairs, practitioners, and students come together to share academic research, pedagogical approaches, and creative projects. Through peer-reviewed presentations, workshops, and keynotes, attendees are immersed in new ideas and innovative solutions shaping the future of design education.
Each year, a university is selected to host this event and develop the branding and collateral materials. For the 2024 summit, The GIT Creative Agency was honored with the task of designing a memorable experience for over 125 of the nation’s top design educators, practitioners, and students, set to take place at Arizona State University's (ASU) Polytechnic Campus in the heart of the Sonoran Desert.
The challenge was to create a visual identity that embodied the academic rigor of the summit, but also captured the essence and culture of Arizona—a unique opportunity to showcase the state's natural beauty with a touch of modern technology.
2024 UCDA Immerse Design Educator Summit conference hype video.
Every semester, the GIT Creative Agency forms a new team, meaning this project ultimately was handed off across three semesters. From concept to execution, each team had to pick up where the previous one left off, creating continuity while infusing fresh, new ideas.
Semester 1: Focused on branding, concept design, and creating the event hype video.
Semester 2: Refined concepts and began developing the mechanical design work.
Semester 3: Finalized pre-press, quality assurance, printing, and digital launch.
With the summit taking place in May, branding the event under the theme “Immerse” allowed us to blend Arizona’s natural landscapes with technology—setting the stage for an unforgettable experience.
Branding Concepts
Professor Christina Carrasquilla, UCDA chair for Immerse 2024, envisioned a brand that “immersed” attendees in Arizona’s desert charm and the technology focus in ASU’s Graphic Information Technology program. This guiding principle led to three key design concepts:
Concept 1: Topography
Arizona is one of the most topographically diverse regions in the country. “Elevations range from about 75 feet above sea level (near Yuma) up to 12,643 feet at its highest point (San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff)” (Arizona Game and Fish, N.D.). The Grand Canyon alone has an average depth of 1 mile and a 1000-foot elevation difference between the North Rim and South Rim. (The National Park Service, 2023). Arizona has an elevation span of 12,662 feet, making it sixth on the list of states in the U.S. with the most elevation span (Geography Realm, 2023).
It was only natural for topography to be a consideration for the Immerse branding.
Concept 1: Topography Maps
The team explored using a paper cutout design with a desert sunset color palette to emulate the depths of knowledge the audience would gain at the UCDA summit. See what we did there? Depths… Summit… you get it! We admit, it’s a stretch!
Buy-in-large, the concept could be used to create a striking, layered effect on things like brochures, invitations, and other printed collateral.
Digital signage and presentations could leverage colored backgrounds to aid visibility at a distance, while printed materials could possibly leverage a genuine die-cut where parts of the page were missing and the topography pattern became something like a 3D flip-book.
Concept 2: Liquid Heatwave
Since the event was going to be in May, that got us thinking—it’s gonna be HOT in Phoenix! Those of us that live here know and even love the first heatwave of the year that generally comes at the end of April / beginning of May. But how could we turn something that might shock a visitor into a brand element?
Enter the Immerse heatwave, a liquified digital pattern that emulates a mirage in the desert heat. This concept brought tons of warmth and movement while remaining approachable, fun, and refreshing.
The heatwave pattern could be editorialized for abstract covers, overlayed with typography for digital signage, or cropped and obscured for name tags and signage—keeping the visual design system flexible enough to be applied to any collateral.
Concept 3: Pastel Sunset
There’s nothing more iconic than an Arizona sunset. They change color and intensity minute-by-minute, and if you’ve never seen one it’s an entrancing and genuinely immersive experience. But most people would associate a sunset with bright, vivid colors. So, what if we subvert that expectation and soften those colors completely?
The pastel sunset concept aimed to do exactly that! Leverage the warmth of an Arizona sunset, but create a relaxing, almost otherworldly feel to blend the culture, technology, and community of Arizona together.
Soft pastels created a great mood for the conference by making the audience feel “immersed” in a cloud or bubble of light—which executed great in print and digital applications.
The Chosen Concept: Liquid Heatwave
After presenting all three concepts to the UCDA team, Liquid Heatwave was selected as the final branding choice. Its dynamic, attention-grabbing design struck the perfect balance between boldness and flexibility, making it ideal for both digital and print applications.
Once the concept was chosen, the agency designed mock collateral and a style guide to ensure consistency as the project was handed off to new teams over subsequent semesters.
The heatwave pattern had a few variations that needed to be used consistently to allow for necessary variance that might be required for different deliverables, but retain the overall brand look and feel.
Bringing Technology to the Brand
One of the most exciting challenges was integrating technology into the branding experience. The team ideated an augmented reality (AR) filter that brought the Immerse brand to life.
Engaging the Audience Before the Summit
To drive attendance, the team created a series of engaging marketing materials, including branded stickers, social media posts, posters, and even billboards.
Social media played a key role in reaching new audiences and spreading excitement about the summit.
The hype video, shown at the end of the 2023 Design Education Summit, set the stage for the following year and generated significant buzz.
An Immersive Experience At The Summit
Before The Summit
Leading up to and while at the event, speakers and attendees could post that they were attending with a custom heatwave social media filter.
Getting To The Summit
Most people attending the summit stayed at the Four Points hotel located just off-campus at the ASU Polytechnic Campus where the event was being hosted. This made it extremely convenient to walk the distance from the hotel to the event. However, if you’ve ever wandered a college campus, surely you know that it can be difficult to find where you’re meant to go.
We created a grouping of A-frame directional way finding signage to help guide the audience to the correct buildings on the Polytechnic Campus where the conference was being hosted.
Upon arriving to Picacho Hall where attendees would check-in we created a roll-up banner to reinforce that attendees were in fact in the right spot and to continue introducing the brand they would be spending the next few days of their week with.
Reaching The Summit
Attendees and speakers received name tags with a color-coded system to help others identify their status in attending the conference.
At check-in, attendees received an Immerse, UCDA, and ASU-branded canvas tote swag bag.
That tote bag was filled with an Immerse-branded tee shirt, water bottle, and a VR scavenger hunt map of the ASU Polytechnic Campus with scratch-offs for each scavenger location.
Each Saguaro cactus and foot print on the map was a destination where between breakout sessions, attendees could entertain themselves by scanning a sign with an bit of iconic Arizona flora and fauna. Once scanned, a bit of trivia about that unique plant or animal would appear in virtual reality (VR) on the user’s phone or tablet.
Stanchions were placed all over the ASU Polytechnic Campus, encouraging everyone to get out and Immerse themselves in the beauty of Arizona’s unique natural habitat.
The scavenger hunt, while not the star of the event was a huge win from a technical perspective and was entertaining for groups of friends to compare notes on the locations they had found.
No presentation is complete without a deck! We designed a presentation deck template that could be easily updated to help all the speakers remain on-brand.
We also created a website where attendees could view and plan which breakout sessions they wanted to attend, see speakers and where they would be presenting, and view the map in a digital environment in case they lost their physical one.
Additionally, there was a swag shop where event tee shirts, sweaters, hats, notebooks, stickers and tote bags could be purchased and shipped directly to their home.
Attendees could also join the event slack channel from the website where a bit of unsolicited praise came through the inbox!
Brand Reception
At the end of the day, it’s one thing to create a brand that a whole team of people is proud of—but it is an entirely different thing to create a brand that resonates with it’s intended audience. So, how do we know that we did our job correctly?
During the conference, we ran a survey to get the opinions from our audience directly!
What are your overall thoughts on the branding for the Immerse Event?
Reception of the branding was very positive with participants saying, “Consistency—typefaces, colors… clear and consistent. Very professional,” and “The consistent use and connections created between the collateral pieces. Between the graphic flow, the colors, and the fonts, it all works together really well.”
What are your overall thoughts on the branding for the Immerse Event?
How helpful did you find the Immerse website to manage your event schedule?
Most participants (69.2%) said they found the Immerse website to be helpful or extremely helpful while the remainder (30.8%) felt neutral or that the Immerse website was potentially unhelpful. However the website did receive a large number of positive comments, including, “The website was AMAZING and super helpful in helping me plan which events I wanted to go to!”
How helpful did you find the Immerse website to manage your event schedule?
Final Thoughts
Executing a conference of this scale required collaboration, creativity, and problem-solving at every turn. With over a year of work spanning three semesters, 16 talented student designers, and countless design iterations, the GIT Creative Agency succeeded in bringing the UCDA Design Education Summit to life. The project was not without its challenges—particularly a last-minute scramble to ensure the VR experience worked—but the result was a genuinely immersive brand experience that engaged attendees from start to finish.
We are incredibly grateful to Professor Christina Carrasquilla and UCDA for entrusting the GIT Creative agency with this opportunity to showcase Arizona’s charm and the creative talent at ASU.
Collaborators
Professor Christina Carrasquilla; ASU, Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering, Graphic Information Technology, Associate Teaching Professor,
Professor Kassidy Breaux, MS; ASU, Ira A Fulton Schools of Engineering, Graphic Information Technology, Assistant Teaching Professor, The GIT Creative Agency
Cameron Rennacker, MS; The GIT Creative Agency, Creative Director / Strategist / Project Manager / Photographer (Fall 2023 – Spring 2024)
Natalie Nguyen; The GIT Creative Agency, Team Lead (Immerse – Fall 2024)
Sofia Soto Herrera; The GIT Creative Agency, Team Lead (Immerse – Spring 2023)
Mikey Amella; The GIT Creative Agency, Designer (Production Design) (Spring 2023)
Shraddha Bejgam; The GIT Creative Agency, Designer (Production Design) (Spring 2023)
Shannon Boesch; The GIT Creative Agency, Designer (Production Design) (Spring 2023)
Vrushik Mehta; The GIT Creative Agency, Designer (Production Design) (Spring 2023)
Avani Rao Alladi; The GIT Creative Agency, Designer (Production Design) (Spring 2023)
Seungjin Shin; The GIT Creative Agency, Designer (Production Design) (Spring 2023)
Sai Divya Reddy Alley; The GIT Creative Agency, Designer (Production Design) (Spring 2024)
Sannuthi Ravichandra; The GIT Creative Agency, Designer (Production Design) (Spring 2024)
Daksha Hegde; The GIT Creative Agency, Designer (Production Design) (Fall 2023)
Maclaine Morgan; The GIT Creative Agency, Designer (Production Design) (Fall 2023)
Anisa Myers; The GIT Creative Agency, Designer (Production Design) (Fall 2023)
Molly-Anne Manzano; The GIT Creative Agency, Designer (Production Design) (Spring 2024)
David Chandler; The GIT Creative Agency, Designer & Print Specialist (Spring 2024)
