Event Creative · Digital & Merch · 2024–2026

Tradeshows & Conventions

Event creative direction for global tradeshows, made in-house at DigiKey.

For Maker Faire Tokyo’s Make ONE Challenge, I led the creative from research and early concepts through stakeholder review, a complete change in direction, final identity, digital rollout, and event merchandise. The project shows how I respond when a brief evolves—and how I carry one strong idea across every touchpoint.

Client: DigiKey Electronics
My role: Digital ad design, merch design, event creative direction
Key expertise: Event digital ad sets · PR & landing page banners · Apparel & merch design · Activation graphics & QR kits · Printed posters & handouts · Localized regional creative

Maker Faire Tokyo brings together makers, engineers, and technology enthusiasts. DigiKey needed a campaign for its Make ONE Challenge that felt native to that community, clear to a Japanese audience, and flexible enough to move from digital promotion into the physical event experience.

The assignment

Create a visual identity for making one original thing

The Make ONE Challenge invited participants to create something of their own for Maker Faire Tokyo. I owned the creative process from research and concept development through campaign identity, digital production, and merchandise. The visual needed to feel inventive and technical, stay recognizably on brand, and work naturally for a Japanese event audience.

Research

Understand the visual world before drawing a direction

I began by reviewing maker competitions, electronics challenges, technology marks, and Japanese visual references. The research helped me identify recurring ideas, circuits, modular construction, bold symbols, and compact identities, without simply repeating what already existed.

Research board — maker competitions, circuit identities, and Japanese visual references

Early exploration

Turn the idea of one into a visual system

My first sketches tested several ways to make the numeral one distinctive: mechanical silhouettes, component-built forms, typographic combinations, and an industrial robot. I quickly placed promising ideas into campaign formats so I could judge them as working identities rather than isolated logos.

Early exploration — testing ways to make the numeral one feel engineered and ownable

First presentation

Two polished routes revealed what the brief was missing

I developed two directions for the first stakeholder review. One used abstract geometric forms; the other placed an industrial robot at the center. Both showed how the concept could extend across social, homepage, and landing-page formats. During that meeting, the Japan team clarified a key expectation that had not been explicit in the original ask: the numeral one itself needed to be the primary focus.

First presentation — an abstract geometric route and an industrial robot route

Back to the drawing board

Use sharper feedback to make the idea more specific

Rather than make a small revision to the first routes, I restarted the visual exploration around the new requirement. The challenge was to make a large numeral one interesting without becoming decorative or off-brand. I explored typographic, mechanical, modular, and character-like constructions, including a component-built concept I had created earlier but had not selected for the first presentation.

Second-round exploration — returning to the numeral one with a wider range of visual ideas

Selected direction

The strongest answer was already hiding in the process

When the second set of concepts reached the Japan stakeholders, they selected the numeral one assembled from electronic components, the earlier route I had believed in from the start. It connected the challenge name directly to the world of electronic components, felt playful enough for Maker Faire, and stayed simple enough to recognize across languages and formats.

Selected direction — the component-built numeral one, chosen for Make ONE Challenge 2026

Digital rollout

Build one idea to work across every required size

I developed the selected identity into a complete digital campaign system, including homepage banners, landing-page graphics, social placements, partner creative, PR assets, and localized promotional formats. Each composition was adjusted for its dimensions and reading distance while keeping the component-built one as the immediate focal point.

Final digital campaign system — localized web, social, partner, and promotional formats

Event merchandise

Carry the campaign from the screen into the event

The visual system extended into the physical Maker Faire experience through a shirt, Japanese uchiwa fan, collaboration tote, and branded slides. I adapted placement, scale, detail, and production needs for each object so the identity felt intentional, not simply pasted onto merchandise.

Make ONE Challenge — component-built '1' tee, worn at the event

Maker Faire Tokyo — QR activation fan (uchiwa)

Beyond Maker Faire

A broader practice in global event creative

Make ONE Challenge shows the complete development process, but it sits within a wider body of event work for DigiKey. I have also created final advertising and event materials for Automate, APEC, Embedded World, and other tradeshows and conventions, adapting each campaign to its audience, region, and format.

Embedded World 2026 — 3-in-1 activity kit poster

Next project · 2023–2025

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