Nothing could've prepared me for the design challenge that branding a business conference and pitch competition could've been to me. The previous logo had been created in a very short time period, had felt like it was "boxed in" by a bounding box and felt too medical.

My creative director gave me three things to work with:

• Must keep the previous color palette

• Had to go off of the main university font family

• Had to feel techy and architectural

So I got to work beginning with a intense study of the actual construction documents (aka blueprints) of the business department's building. I brought the textures of the cyantoype process for creating blueprints in the 90's and incorporated the symbols that architects used when drafting.

The biggest challenge was giving the logo meaning in retrospect. I stared at the word for hours and studied what it was about the word that set it apart. The letter "u" kept popping off of the screen and that's when it hit me. The future is blank without the power of "u" — YOU! It was then that the conference tagline was born, The Future is You!

With the help an architect to ensure I was honoring the blueprints, I was able to build a brand system that felt futuristic, tech-leaning, and aligned with the university brand.