Let’s CoLab

CoLab is a Hackathon event, hosted by Engage People Inc., where individuals come together to showcase their creativity and programming skills. Over a span of two days in Perugia, Italy, participants were given criteria with a goal of creating usable software that integrates payment APIs like Visa, MasterCard and PayPal.

My Role

Creative Direction & Lead Designer

Main Goal

Establish a name, identity and supporting collateral to advertise the event.

Co-create

Hackathons are intense and collaborative events, where teams of programmers, designers, project managers and any others involved in software development, come together to produce usable software in a short time frame. So it only made sense to play off of “collaboration” in every sense of the word.

What’s in a name?

CoLab was the chosen name—a fusion of the terms “collaboration” and “laboratory”. It successfully captures the fun and experimental vibe I was hoping to achieve, and lends itself well to an audience that is mainly comprised of students and young professionals.

Get noticed

Once the identity and direction was established, it was time to apply the brand to various marketing channels. Posters were created to display across the town of Perugia, Italy and generate interest.

The event was also featured on Eventbrite where it was used as a means to register. It proved to be quite effective in gaining a large audience and turnout. So much so, that we hired a few of the participants who were recent graduates of the town’s University and looking for work.