President's Innovation Challenge
The President's Innovation Challenge is a hallmark event hosted by the Harvard Innovation Labs, where students and alumni across all 13 Harvard schools compete for $515,000 worth of funding. With the 2024 theme of "Turning Ideas into Impact," the event needed a design that reflected the forward-thinking and high-energy nature of the competition. I was tasked with creating an engaging visual and experiential flow that complemented the in-person and online live event format.
Client
Harvard Innovation Labs
Role
Design lead
Partnering studios
AVFX
Mironoko Productions
Photo credit
Evgenia Eliseeva
Press
Harvard Gazette
The design challenge
One of the key design hurdles was orchestrating smooth transitions between embedded videos and live presentations. The event featured pre-recorded segments showcasing past winners, interspersed with live pitches. Ensuring that the transition between pre-recorded videos and live speaker segments was seamless was vital to maintaining the audience's engagement and the overall energy of the event.
What I did
Designed event branding and motion graphics.
Created a dynamic screen experience that served as a bridge between digital and physical storytelling, using visual cues to spotlight both the ventures and the speakers.
Collaborated with event producers to synchronize the audiovisual elements and integrate the live-action elements smoothly with the pre-recorded segments.
Highlightreel created by AVFX.
Conclusion and Results
The 2024 President’s Innovation Challenge successfully delivered a seamless event experience that bridged the gap between pre-recorded content and live presentations. The dynamic screen transitions not only enhanced the flow of the event but also created memorable moments that showcased the innovation of Harvard’s student ventures. Audience feedback reflected high engagement levels, and the venture finalists benefited from an elevated platform to tell their stories in a visually compelling format. Ultimately, this design played a crucial role in supporting the mission of turning ideas into impactful realities.
