Solvation — An Event Campaign
A theoretical hackathon event like no other
01 I Introduction
The purpose of this personal project is to create a campaign for an event. We have 2.5 weeks to complete the project, where we need a website for the event and to create mock-ups of relevant merch for the event. We are also to create an ad campaign to sell our event.
The Problem
Current hackathons are 24 to 48-hour events where teams create their own ideas and pitch it. The only problem is these solutions are often forgotten after the hackathon, and teams don’t work on it after the hackathon. There are often restrictions of age as well.
Solution
Solvation is a hackathon that wants to disrupt the status quo of current hackathons by eliminating the element of prizes, making it worldwide and refocusing on what it means to be a designer. Solvation brakes the barriers of current hackathons by accepting people of various ages from students to seniors to show that everyone has valid ideas and that can be part of the final solution.
Solvation aims to redefine what it means to be a hackathon. Solvation is a celebration, it is a gathering, it is coming together to solve one problem worldwide and it is most importantly an iterative process where people work together to solve a problem. Note that this is just a theoretical idea for this project.
02 I Research
So how did I come to this idea? The idea of Solvation came up when I read an article on Linkedin on the downside of competition.
“Creating a non-competitive setting in design teams and focusing on working together to solving challenges is key. Work together in a way where everyone’s idea is accepted and always refer back to your user. It is not about if “you” like it. Do the problem justice.”
— My Motivation Behind This Project
2.1 Competitive Comparative Analysis
For the competitive comparative analysis, I focused on the unique selling points of each event. The purpose of it is to analyze ‘why’ they would exist as a hackathon and what they believe they offer as a hackathon event.
NwHacks
nwHacks is dedicated to supporting the thriving community of technology lovers in the Pacific Northwest region by bringing together ambitious minds for an epic two-day event.
Vanhacks
VanHacks is designed around the mantra of acting local and thinking global. All hacks are encouraged to be published open source so that an organization in Vancouver can benefit just as much as a similar nonprofit on the other side of Canada or the other side of the World.
Solvation
Inviting people together to solve a worldwide agreed upon problem collectively. Solvation takes hackathons to the next level by incorporating an worldwide iterative process. Solvation takes one problem, many solution approaches where teams are able to combine, iterate and repeat.
2.2 Journey Map
After reading about Solvation's competitors I mapped up scenarios of what it would be like for someone who is attending current hackathons compared to the Solvation method.
Seen here the major difference is the ending of the hackathon event. Solvation puts emphasis on iteration and improvement of solutions hence the feel of attendants are more positive as they would have felt they are part of the solution.
03 I Planning
3.1 Event Personas
For the purpose of this hackathon, there are 3 types of event personas. A keynote speaker, event mentor and junior designers.
3.2 Storyboard
A storyboard is then created based on the user persona of junior designers as they are the primary audience of Solvation. The storyboard gives a context of how Solvation site should be when it comes to content generation later on.
3.3 Site Map
From the storyboard, I have determined that the site is mainly informational and should be simple enough to attract potential attendees to join Solvation.
3.4 The Design Inception
With the sitemap in mind, it was time to dive into the design inception. From the ‘why’ I am able to determine the mood, space, shape and movement of the solvation site.
3.5 Design Directions
With the visual language and the ‘why’ set. I directed my attention to various inspirations. There are two directions, each one represents Solvation in different ways.
Uplifting Empowering Direction
The uplifting empowering direction represents the feel and connotations of what Solvation stands for as a hackathon. The images below represent the ideation process of UX and UI process. A colour pallet is then generated based on these images.
Innovation Direction
The innovation direction is more a material representation of Solvation. It is more minimal, modern and sophisticated approach compared to the uplifting empowering direction. Colour is then generated based on the images below.
3.6 Typography
Once I have both directions, I revisited the why and what Solvation stands for before I dove into selecting typography for the website. One of the first things I did is by selecting a few typefaces with the world Solvation typed out to see which one would resonate with the Solvation brand. After choosing, I gave context to people about Solvation and asked which typeface would resonate with Solvation.
The final choice, Bitter (Serif) and Quicksands (San Serif), was based on Solvation intent to include people from various age range. A serif like Bitter gives sophistication and knowledgeable feel like our senior designers. While a san serif like Quicksands is rounded and has a creative feel to it, which represents the younger junior designers.
3.7 Final Style Tyle
A final style tile is then determined. I have chosen to go with the Uplifting Empowering direction as it resonated more to what Solvation stands for its target audience.
3.8 The Logo
Solvation stands to create collective achievement and innovation through design iterations and teamwork. I have incorporated the colours from the style tile to create Solvation’s logo. The orange is the largest of the logo as the creative process is a key part of any design process. The three straight lines represent breaking out of the status quo and how Solvation encourage attendees to think differently!
04 I Design
4.1 Paper Prototypes & Content Generation
Once the feel and purpose of Solvation are defined it was time to start jumping on paper to create the content for the website. While generating content, I started generating rough layouts of how to fit the content on the site.
4.2 Hi-Fi Prototype
05 I Advertising Materials
5.1 Targeted Instagram Advertisements
Below are some targeted Instagram advertisements showcasing possible ads that can be used to draw people to join. They feature key quotes on what Solvation aims to do for people who want to join and wants to make a difference.
5.2 T-Shirts
T-shirts are made for people to wear at the event to eliminate name tags. It would mean being more environmentally friendly as well. On the back it features the logo of Solvation and that they have contributed to give that sense of achievement for all the attendees.
5.3 Google Daydream
Partnering with Google, Solvation wants to push more VR ideas together. By providing a google daydream for each contestant they are able to play around the device and perhaps help encourage attendees to create a VR / AR solution.
07 I Future Considerations / Improvements
- Testing
- Improvement of graphical representations of Solvation on the website
08 I Conclusion
This project was an interesting one. One of the biggest challenges was the lack of a client. We needed to create an event that is unique in its nature. Hence a lot of time was used in generating a theoretical event. Without proper details of the event and context, it would hinder the design process down the line. With a shorter deadline and being alone, this project was more challenging than previous client projects.
