Behind the design: Google Cloud Next 2023 Booth
Hello, I’m Chase, a junior graphic designer at DoiT, and I’m excited to take you on a journey through the design process and ultimate outcome of our Google Cloud Next booth.
Google Cloud Next is a highly-anticipated event where technology enthusiasts, industry professionals, and developers gather to explore the latest trends and innovations in the tech world. The design of our booth for this event is crucial, as it serves as a focal point for showcasing our products and services, engaging with attendees, and providing a great amount of visibility for our brand. In this blog, we will delve into the intricate thoughts that shaped our design process.
Screenshot from Figjam during the research phase
Our initial concept for the booth was based on our previous designs, which mostly consisted of blue hues and gradients. Luckily, I was able to attend a Google Cloud event earlier in the year, and my research showed that most of our competitors use the same color palettes and layouts. It was evident that I needed to differentiate our brand from the sea of blue and purple hues.
I experimented with a multitude of colors to find the right color arrangement — one that allowed the booth to be bold but also shared our tone of voice being approachable, confident, trustworthy, and humble.
The color arrangement needed to create a sense of balance and sophistication. This was achieved through a 50/50 color palette of pink and blue. The vibrant spark color was strategically used on the two top boards showing our logo so our booth was clearly visible from a distance. In contrast, blue was employed for information assets, ensuring that the text was easily readable. I also adhered to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines to guarantee accessibility and readability for all attendees.
With a recent brand refresh and new taglines in place, it was the ideal moment to introduce a fresh typographic layout for the booth walls — a design that keeps within the bold theme but isn’t afraid to embrace white space and push the creative boundaries. I chose to amplify the main tagline of ‘The true promise of the cloud with ease, not cost’ through a heavier font-weight and strategic hierarchy. Further highlighting the last part, I used a rectangle with our brand’s spark color. The dark blue background provided excellent contrast for the white text and icons, further accentuating our message.
The booth was extremely well received not only by our sales team but also by attendees at the event. Many were quick to commend the use of the vibrant spark pink, with comments like, “It’s hard to convey just how much it pops out on the exhibition floor. You can see it from quite far away!” and ”That spark pink has so much personality behind it”.
This project has taught me that although digital design applications allow for quick changes and edits when designing, they do not always consistently capture the authentic essence of printed colors. Hence, I had to explore a range of blue hues for the information background. To improve my design process in the future, I would seek out Pantone sample cards. This approach will provide me with a clearer understanding of how these colors interact with each other and their surroundings, ensuring a more precise representation in the final printed design.