Design Forward was a personal creative exercise, born out of a real-world pitch, a fictional event brought to life through layout, type, and image systems designed to resonate with a visually literate, design-savvy audience. Could I design something that felt real enough to promote, scroll through, and share? The festival needed to feel fresh, yet grounded in real design principles. It was about building a voice that speaks to the people shaping the future of design, graphic designers, UX folks, creative coders, and brand thinkers.

The foundation of the identity was built around bold, expressive typography paired with a minimalistic, Bauhaus-inspired logo. The aim was to create something instantly recognisable without being overly ornamental. Headlines were large and confident, setting the tone for a festival that celebrates ideas and people at the cutting edge of design. The colour palette was kept deliberately minimal: Soft Sand, Studio Red, and Pitch Black, tones chosen to feel tactile, modern, and editorial without overwhelming the content. This gave the whole identity a tactile, human feel while still feeling clean and contemporary. Imagery played a key role in setting the emotional tone. I used AI tools to generate visuals that represented each topic in a conceptual, abstract way.

This project helped me explore how to take a speculative concept and turn it into a living, scrollable experience. It became a space to test my approach to visual storytelling, AI art direction, and content systems. It also served as a branding experiment: how far can you push simplicity before it breaks? How do you combine structure and emotion in a layout? What does a design-focused brand voice sound like? Design Forward isn’t real. But the systems I built around it are. And they reflect how I work, strategic, detail-obsessed, and always looking to build something with both clarity and character.

Thank you for watching :)