Overview

Formally Oakland Digital, BRIDGEGOOD is a nonprofit design studio focused on diversity, inclusion, and accessibility. the organization inspires first-generation college students to explore the industries of UX/UI and visual design. Funded by Google.org, and the Golden State Warriors, their platform BRIDGEGOOD.com connects local organizations with aspiring creative students. As visual designer, I worked closely with the product lead, project manager, engineers, and event coordinator to develop and facilitate programing and projects.

The Significance of I.A.X

The Inspiration Awards (Abbreviated to I.A.X for Year 10) is BRIDGEGOOD’s flagship fundraiser. Although the Gala helps finance programing for the following year, it is also dedicates 4 local Bay Area honorees who have helped our organization and the community in some capacity.

Honorees
Community Honoree : Karl Robillard, Head of Giving from Twitter
Business Honoree: Jazmin Mora, community relation specialist from Kaiser Permanente
Creative Honoree: Megan Dale, Director of Branding from Adobe
Economic Development Honoree: Raminder Somal, community relation specialist of Wells Fargo

Design Process

Problem

BRIDGEGOOD needs help funding its future programs and projects. The need is there to help early stage designers compete in the local job market, however funding needs to be generated through credible findings of our social impact.

I was tasked to help develop all visual elements that would be used for multiple applications.

Gathering intel:

Over the 9 consecutive years, BRIDGEGOOD has refined the experience for attendees, receiving feedback on what could be improve and what were the most memorable or enjoyable experiences of the program.

Apart from branding the program, our team visited the Venue, Twitter HQ, to see what we needed to create, in order to let the program flow smoothly. The Twitter events team helped with setting up dining tables and using hedges to section off areas during the event.

We also gathered a list of all print and digital collateral used the previous year and assess on how many assets were needed to be created. * Below, are visual aids I used when mapping out the flow of the program.

Design Components:

There are 4 major components that require design work for this Gala. 1. Signage & Branding , 2. Annual Booklet, 3. Slideshow Presentation 4. Animation/Videography.

Branding:
Given that 10 years is such a significant milestone, we decided on an elegant matte black and gold theme. Furthermore, the “10” emblem was used in tandem with the Inspiration Awards logo. It was a visual crossover between the number 10 and the Letter B symbolizing our rebranding from Oakland Digital to BRIDGEGOOD. Signage was used for photo ops and way-finding.

Annual Booklet:
For every event, held, hosted or attended, BRIDGEGOOD would document it with photos or videos. This library of assets proved detrimental in the creation of the annual booklet, which serves as both a yearbook and a fundraising tool. Attendees could take in all the information from the event and they could always revisit the booklet if they wanted to donate to the cause.

Slideshow Presentation:
The slide deck was 98 slides long, equipped with 5 minute videos, reaching a runtime of 3 hours and was paired with a script to keep track of time.

Videography: 4 of the 5 videos were dedicated to each honoree’s declaration of how they continue to inspire others. The fifth video was a mini Documentary, titled “This Crazy Idea”. It was an origin story told by Executive director Shaun Tai who founded Oakland Digital and how the organization has grown to what it is today. Produced by colleague Andrew Warren, I contributed to this side project by creating motion graphics that were used throughout the video, along with secondary editing and refinement.

#TheInspirationContinues

Our team developed this hashtag specifically for this event, for people to share out their experiences. The phrase itself represents who BRIDGEGOOD is and what its done over the years in the east bay area beyond. Below are tweets from the event using the hashtag.

Results

This night was a notable accomplishment for BRIDGEGOOD. In one night, we raised over $30,000 to fund next year's programming while giving us a chance to hire more students and help them build their creative careers.  BRIDGEGOOD was also endorsed on stage by long-time champion and former honoree MC Hammer. The event also received a surprise visit from original Twitter Co-founder Biz Stone who visited the student exhibit.

Improve

The following day, our team met up with the event manager and other leads from the logistics team to weigh the positives and improvements needed. Venue size and lighting were the main areas for improvement. The branding was very cohesive, and many felt sent us congratulatory notes and messages across email and social media.