Having attended the Summit a few times in the past I was excited to take on this task. But thinking of the event, the popular speakers and its place in the Brighton Chamber calendar, this challenge also created some pressure. How did we want the Summit to be perceived? And what personality should the Summit have for 2020?

Bringing together 400 businesses and entrepreneurs from across our city’s diverse business community, it’s a day for strengthening relationships and forging new ones. There are inspiring speakers, expert-led workshops and energising discussions, with plenty of time for networking built-in at every turn. The Summit celebrates the spirit of our open-minded, quirky city which makes it such a dynamic region to live, work and do business in.

Straight-away I thought to invite Lee Suttey of Visual Function to collaborate on this project. He brings an enormous amount of experience and expertise in branding and visual communications and we both adore typography.

Within the Brighton Chamber curator team we quickly established a brief, objectives, approaches etc. These meetings were invaluable especially as all curators came from different business directions.

The title UNITE allowed to bring together 'business' and 'Brighton' visually. The extensive mood board phase brought us back to the circle as a key element.

In these unknown times, with the UK leaving the EU and businesses having to come together to work harder, we felt it appropriate to offer a visual tone which communicated a sombre tone, but on the other hand offered clarity. The white backdrop and the simplicity of the illustration style used for this particular project definitely helped that vision. Keeping the palette a Brighton seafront railing colour felt right to make this 'local'.

We created illustrations as the 'day in the life of a Brighton business person' brand story and united these in a circle. The idea is that the assets are interchangeable and can be used by themselves too, as each business person experiences their business day differently. The circle builds the framework, representing the Brighton Chamber of Commerce, which itself also bears a circle as their logo mark. The ability to unpick the circle and use each asset individually allows us to be agile whilst maintaining a clear vision for the Summit visual communication. The assets will be used throughout the day for signposting too.

A touch of humour gave it the right tone of voice as for a Brighton business that is definitely needed. The illustration is framed by rigid and clear typography, beautifully crafted by Lee Suttey.