In 2013 the Kenexa Creative Team was asked to create the theme and the design for the IBM Connect 2014 conference. Kenexa had been acquired by IBM in 2012 and it’s own annual HR World Conference would now be part of IBM Connect.
Our team was tasked with creating a theme and design that would be overarching to include Kenexa’s HR audience the IBM’s technologists audience
“It Takes a Village”
The Collaborative Team
Kenexa’s CMO: Tim Geisert
Event Coordinators: Shelly Smith and Emily Hendrickson
Creative Director: Mary Lafferty
Copywriter: Stephanie Sparks
Art Direction: Deb Lee Toth and Jennifer Woockman
Web Strategist: Anh McClure
Social Media Strategist: Anthony Galvin
Videographer: Drew Hoffmeyer
Graphic Designers: Kelsey Kovar, Kara Zenk, Kendra Meek, Susheel Pandey, Jennifer Woockman and Deb Lee Toth
* A number of IBMers also contributed to the direction and success of this project.
The Theme
Energizing Life’s Work. Connect 2014
No matter what you do in life, it should energize you. It should fulfill you, engage you and give you purpose each day. Your work should inspire you and fill you with a sense of pride. That’s why the theme of Connect 2014 is Energizing Life’s Work, and is all about providing you insight, tools and thought leadership to connect what you do to your life’s outcomes.
Whether you’re a CMO, HR Professional or Head of IT, attending Connect 2014 will help you discover how to get the most out of your life’s work—and energize the resources, solutions and outcomes you need to do your work in the most fulfilling way possible. Because getting the most out of your work will not only energize employees, customers and business, but also energize your life and the lives of those around you.
Audience Breakout Messages
HR
If your life’s work is hiring, engaging and optimizing talent, attending Connect 2014 will energize it by helping you discover how to attract and keep the best people, develop employee skills, cultivate leaders, and capitalize on collective intelligence and analytics to transform the way your business works.
IT
If your life’s work is providing the right tools and capabilities, attending Connect 2014 will energize it by helping you identify the technology and technical solutions that will enhance collaboration in your company.
Marketing and Customer Service
If your life’s work is engaging customers and building relationships between people and companies, attending Connect 2014 will energize it by helping you learn how to enhance interactions through community, collaboration, process and analytics.
The Creative Problem
How to design to more than one target audience.
We were solving for creating a design that represented Energizing Life’s Work and spoke to the various target audiences. It needed to speak HR and technologists alike.
“Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye." — Dorothy Parker
The Creative Process
The design took on many forms. It started out wild and busy but we continued to change and adjust the design to get it down to it's simplest form.
The Solution
Vector Icons and overlaying colored shapes.
The icons used symbolized IBM’s Software Solutions and Kenexa’s HR products and services.
The overlaying colored shapes brought everything together to one platform.
Social Media Quick Hitter Video
Social Media Quick Hitter Video
Social Media Quick Hitter Video
