TED Brand Strategy

At the forefront of disseminating brilliant ideas that shape the world around us, TED lacked a coherent brand strategy, its visual expression had grown stale, and it risked losing relevance.

As Design Director, I played a leading role in working to clarify and refresh TED’s brand strategy and expression — from drafting the initial project proposal, to identifying and managing internal needs, to design development and final roll-out. Collaborating with Godfrey Dadich Partners, we renewed TED’s mission and visual identity. The resulting framework has streamlined internal processes, aligned goals, and resonated with TED’s external audiences.

Role: Design Director
TED Team: Jay Herratti, Colin Helms, Helen Walters, Mike Femia, Diana Pietrzak, Casey Walter, Robert Spica
Godfrey Daddich Partners: Danielle Bird, Audrey Grimes, Rob Capps
Working Session: Amanda Happé

“If we ever were to do a big promotional push, we now have the building blocks.”

— Tricia Maia, Senior Director of Product

“Bravo!!!!… This makes it clearer than ever why [TED matters].”

— Chris Anderson, Head of TED

Synthesizing a vision

Following an extensive internal analysis of our company's culture, vision, and goals, we collaboratively crafted a new strategic foundation. This encompassed defining TED's brand mission, positioning, values, and voice, with a central focus on repositioning TED as a catalyst.

Resetting the foundation

Throughout this extensive process, my role was to manage and synthesize feedback, help refine the final language, and design all necessary assets, including our final brand strategy document (link). The resulting new brand platform provides a clear yet flexible framework that enables impactful messaging and fosters a strong connection with our audiences.

New Tagline

Culminating the strategy refresh, TED's new tagline, "Ideas Change Everything," reflects its evolution from an annual conference to a global movement sharing groundbreaking ideas. I led its implementation, including creating launch animations, designing merchandise, and integrating the tagline on TED.com.

To cap off our strategy and tagline launch, I led the design and development of a brand sizzle reel. Working closely with Colours and Shapes studio, we created a video capturing our new brand platform's spirit and impact.

Targeted messaging for impact

The spoken word is the core of TED, and our new communication framework empowers staff to craft impactful messaging tailored to diverse audiences. I helped facilitate alignment across teams, including marketing, to ensure usability and directed the reference document design. (link).

A refreshed visual expression

This project did not include a formal visual identity overhaul. As Design Director, it was my job to translate our new strategy into an updated visual expression by utilizing existing elements of TED's visual identity.

The concept of TED as a “catalyst” inspired our new dynamic design language. The outcome is a TED identity that feels both familiar and revitalized.

Elevating TED.com

The new brand strategy and re-articulated visual identity guide ongoing development on TED.com, where I've played a pivotal role in design and execution. This transformation imbues the site with a fresh, engaging feel. My contributions span from reimagining thumbnail designs to refining the typography system, color palette, grid, layout, and content strategy.

Building a Brand Hub

I designed the brand document directory and hub to give TED-sters and collaborators all over the world a central hub for voice and communication guidelines. The documents demonstrate how voice and strategy ideas can be put into action by clearly articulating internal and external audience needs and differences.