2025 Imagine Cup Branding & Live Event
Branding, illustration, social media assets, design system, stage design for Microsoft BuildTools: Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma
Collaborators: Creative Director Colin McKeveny, Sr. Visual Designer Maria Forero, Motion Designer Rodrigo Villegas, Motion Designer Ivan Canchón, Creative Director Aaron Schrade
Overview: Imagine Cup is the global student developer competition that empowers participants to unleash their passion and purpose by creating innovative solutions to real-world problems. Each year, it debuts a fresh brand look to inspire and engage participants.
Demographic: The Imagine Cup targets high school and university students (18+) worldwide, empowering young tech entrepreneurs to create innovative projects using Microsoft tools.
Challenge: Each year, the Imagine Cup World Championship brings together a new wave of talented student innovators. Our challenge is to create a dynamic visual identity that not only celebrates their dedication and groundbreaking ideas but also captures the excitement of the competition while staying relevant to current trends in innovation.
Solution: Our approach weaves the spirit of innovation into every aspect of the event through a thoughtfully crafted visual identity. The prism and vibrant color palette symbolize the diverse backgrounds of the students and how their ideas converge to shine on the Imagine Cup stage. By integrating these elements into the live show, we create an experience that is both inspiring and reflective of the competition’s impact.
Day of Event at Microsoft Build
Other Deliverables
Process
Initial 3 Concepts
Compliments from the client
“Beyond the amazing deliverables, I also want to acknowledge and express gratitude for your client support on this project. Joan had some last-minute asks of us close to Build changing formats, adapting deliverables to different sizes, and ask to action very time sensitive and nitpicky feedback and you were able to role with the punches and quickly provide everything she needed. Taking it one step even further you were able to anticipate client needs. There were multiple time she relied on us to guide her in what was needed, saying things like "I am not a designer, so I’m not sure how all this works" and you were able to interpret her asks and provide guidance as the expert! You helped me communicate with her when she was having some confusion about the layout changes for the “safe zone” for the stage and gave her confidence in being able to rely on us.
This resulted in great client feedback from Joan such as “Oh Greta, I can’t even tell you how many people tell us, ‘oh my gosh, I love your creative this year.’ I mean, it has been overwhelmingly positive from everybody.”, “In other news everyone thinks the mortis is great”, “We love these!! Thank you!”.
I also wanted to update you that we are winning more business with Joan, in this quarter she is extending the PO to include more work for FY26 design exploration and has expressed the want to continue working with us in the next fiscal as well. Your efforts were imperative in making this happen – thank you so much for all that you do!” - Katherine Zatt, Account Manager