revAlation
Reviving and reimagining event branding for a premier data and AI conference
ROLES
Brand Design
Graphic Design
Environmental/Print Design
Visual Design
Presentation Design
TOOLS
Figma
Adobe Creative Suite
Google Slides
TIMELINE
August 2025-November 2025
(4 Months)
OUTCOMES
Revived appreciation of the 2024 company rebrand internally and externally
Elevated Alation’s visual presence to match elevated company strategy through the company keynote
Created a more exciting and sleek environment for users and prospects to associate with Alation
Introduction
When I first joined Alation in 2023, I came right at the time we were in production for revAlation. I immediately jumped on creating environmental designs and prints for revAlation 2023 in Chicago, Sydney, and London (huge responsibility for someone who just joined, right?). When I found out we were reviving revAlation again in 2025, I was given the opportunity to reimagine revAlation with our new branding with only the timeline of a week. I love a challenge! After completing branding, I worked with our events manager and vendors to create environmental designs, prints, and promotional material like video.
Old revAlation Branding
Conceptualizing
While I introduced new ways for us to implement the branding created for revAlation as a pair of fresh eyes back in 2023, I found that the old branding was somewhat limiting. Event branding is usually an interpretation of the current company branding, but the interpretation for revAlation’s branding felt like it did not align with what we were trying to evoke: excitement, appreciation, grandiosity, and futuristic. When I produce concepts, I like them to be so directionally different, not only to have fun in design but also to make sure stakeholders can fairly judge any possibilities in design. revAlation is meant to be a conference that celebrates innovation, mission, and community. The next evolution in branding had to capture that. 4 concepts were produced, and the key things to note are 1) Leaning into darker concepts, 2) Using gradients, and 3) Introducing 1-2 exclusive colors to event branding.
1. Leaning into darker
concepts
I’ve found that there is a great number of stakeholders who are hesitant about using darker colors because our old branding used to be very light. This was a great way to dip everyone’s toes into introducing dark colors as the main event palette. If we wanted the environment to feel sleek (vs sterile), modern (vs legacy), and vivid (vs colorless), we had to leverage the darker colors in our company’s branding.
2. Using gradients to convey movement
We recently introduced gradients as a main part of our rebrand, so it made sense to use it for motion and adding another layer of depth to design. Gradients are an excellent way to imply motion without having motion. Previously, our company branding used flat colors only, so the 2023 revAlation branding felt too stiff. There were no shadows, gradients, or glows. The concepts for 2025 revAlation feel like they naturally have movement.
3. Introducing exclusive colors to event branding
In each concept, there are about 1-2 additional exclusive colors to add another level of interaction with the palette we already have. I noticed that other conferences held by companies have this trend, so I started introducing them to these concepts. Exclusive colors evoke a sense of novelty (ended up being well-received).
Finalized Branding
After incorporating stakeholder feedback, we came to alignment with this branding for the user conference. This branding did not stray too far from Alation’s brand identity and acted as an evolution. The branding elements in the final concept suggest movement, sleekness, and novelty.
My Contributions
Now that the brand is finalized, I had to start creating landing pages, promotional materials, swag, environmental designs, prints, and more for 3 major locations and a North America tour. I got to work with the CMO and CEO to create the company keynote design.
Landing Pages
Company Keynote Presentation (Worked with CMO and CEO)
Promotional Material (Social, Ads, Email)
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Environmental/Print Design (Event, Swag)
Hype Video (In collab with Greyduck)