Gearset DevOps Summit
Project
My Role
Software
Date
The Gearset DevOps Summit is a virtual webinar created at the height of the pandemic to provide people with a quarterly check-in for the world of DevOps. When I joined Gearset, there had already been a year of these events with an existing brand that had been used extensively, but with Gearset now in the throes of a company-wide rebrand, and DevOps Dreamin’ making its mark, we felt we needed to better align the visual identity of Summit with Dreamin’ so they could exist as adjacent events - one virtual, one in person. This meant taking the identity of the Summit and expanding it to more closely follow the illustration style of Dreamin’, whilst also ensuring they were easily distinguishable.
The key focus was making the design feel aspirational, with bright, colourful gradients providing a feeling of optimism, whilst also reflecting the seasonal nature of the summit. From an illustrative point of view, I played around with the scale of the mountain, wanting it to feel grand and impressive, much like the event.
Visual Identity, Illustration, Graphic Design
Illustrator, Designer
Illustrator, Photoshop, Sketch
2022-Now
Summit design timeline
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1. Q1 2022
This was the first Summit I was involved in and for this event I strictly adhered to the visual identity of the previous events and that already been developed prior to me joining Gearset. The plan was originally to reuse the previous illustration, I thought it was valuable to add new elements to it, including the polar sunrise in the background and the trees formed of git lines at the foot of mountain, tying it in better to DevOps.
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2. Q2 2022
This Summit was the first chance I had to explore the branding, opting for a semi-overhaul where I took the existing line-art elements and coupled them with a gradient-laden vector illustration.I liked the direction, but it posed problems when applying it to the webpage’s hero. This meant that the concept had to be ditched for future Summits, though it’s an idea I’d have liked to have revisited.
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3. Q1 2023
With this iteration of the Summit being help art a similar time to DevOps Dreamin’ I wanted to visually align them more than they had been. I used a deeper variation of its colour palette, and created a sprawling mountain scene to maintain as much of the interest as the previous Summit’s hero, with the added detail and depth compensating for the lack of visual storytelling from the line-art.
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4. Q2 2023
With Summit developing more brand recognition within the ecosystem, I decided that it was best to keep the core imagery in the illustration. I added more details, and even more depth but kept the same shape and essence of the mountain so that it’d be instantly recognisable. With this iteration, I feel the brand is in a place from which we can gently develop the concept with each new event.
With the overhaul of the visual identity, that also meant an update to all potential collateral. Firstly, I overhauled the web design - I wanted the site to be straightforward and simple, with information succinct and easy to find, with clear CTAs so there was no barrier to entry for prospective sign-ups. Wanting to maintain that mountain motif throughout, I added silhouetted page dividers shaped like a mountain range, and a topographical pattern in the event summary section: a neat little visual metaphor for guidance.
For social media, I used the bold, colourful hero illustrations to first announce the event and then switched to a more enterprise-adjacent, flat colour graphic for speaker images. I feel it’s important to draw people in with the aspirational imagery, creating intrigue about the value of the event. Next, I want to place the emphasis on the speaker as influential figures in the community - the flat graphic with pop colours means we’re drawn to the CTA, but not distracted from the speaker like we would be if there was a bright mountain arguing with their headshot.
