October 2021
Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) at UC San Diego holds its Translational Medicine Day each year by "bringing together students, researchers, industry representatives, and other professionals of various backgrounds to share and learn about the innovative solutions that are being developed in medicine." The media team invited me to work on redesigning the banner of the email invitation for the industry professionals, hoping to leave them an innovative and professional impression of the student organization.
The theme colors of of BMES is bright and complementary (see on the right). Therefore the original design with colorful DNA patterns conveys a rather joyful, party-like feeling. Through the communication with the club members, it is soon figured out that they wish to create a mature and professional impression as they are try to reach out and invite professionals, but at the same time, they choose to keep their logo design and theme colors. Below are the three mandatory elements required for the design:
Previous email banner design of Translational Medicine Day 2021 (cr. BMES media team)
Based on the vivid color of the logo and professional-oriented event, I came up with the plan of combining only the two theme colors with different shades of grey from a realistic style image. Inspired by the representative "pentagon" shape of the club, I blend in the logo and event title with basic shapes in fade-out gradients as the top layer. Despite being a very small project of few hours, I am generally happy with the result as the new banner carries a mixed attitude of composure and creativity. For some reflection, I find it very meaningful of redesigning the academic STEM clubs. Their recourses are concrete and professional, but sometimes to the lack of designers on the board, they are struggling to send the expected messages and attract more people to the events. This may be an inspiration for the student designers like me on finding hands-on design opportunities and making a real impact on the communities.
