AsAm HSC 2025: Design Chair

Project Overview

• Timeline: April- November 2025 (30 weeks)

• Event: Asian American High School Conference 2025

• My Role: Design Chair

• Team: Executive Board of 12

• Tools used: Canva, Adobe, Procreate

Deliverables

• Brand identity

• Logo system

• Social media campaign

• Merchandise

• Presentation templates

• Website maintenance

• Event collateral

• Photography direction

About the Conference

The Asian American High School Conference (AsAM HSC) is a free, one-day conference hosted at the University of Michigan that connects high school students with the university's Asian American community through workshops, cultural performances, keynote speakers, and mentorship opportunities.

Conference Highlights

• 150+ high school attendees

• 6 workshops | 5 cultural performances

• Keynote Speaker: Senator Stephanie Chang

• Hosted at the University of Michigan- Ann Arbor, MI

My Role

As one of two Design Chairs, I led the visual identity for the conference from concept to execution.

Responsibilities included:

• Developing the conference branding

• Designing promotional materials

• Creating merchandise

• Maintaining the conference website

• Coordinating visual consistency across digital and print experiences

• Attending weekly executive board meetings over a 30-week planning period

The Challenge

Design Goals

✔ Create a memorable conference identity

✔ Appeal to high school students

✔ Build excitement before the event

✔ Maintain consistency across every touchpoint

✔ Reflect the conference mission through design

Theme Development

ROOTED: Growing From Our Histories, Reaching for the Future

The 2025 conference theme, ROOTED: Growing From Our Histories, Reaching for the Future, centered on honoring our cultural identities while encouraging students to embrace future opportunities with confidence. As many attendees were navigating an important transitional period in their lives, the visual identity was designed to celebrate where they came from while inspiring them to continue growing.

My goal was to create a brand that felt welcoming, hopeful, and reflective of the diversity within the Asian American community. Rather than focusing on a single culture, I wanted the identity to communicate shared values of resilience, belonging, and personal growth that could resonate with every attendee.

Inspiration & Visual Direction-

During the early planning stages, I explored four different branding directions through mood boards, visual references, and thematic concepts before presenting them to the executive board. Each explored different interpretations of growth, community, and cultural identity.

Here is where I outlined each theme in depth: Vision Board

Vision Boards & Poster Mock-ups:

Following this, board members voted on which theme they believed alligned with the conference vision and core message. The final theme, ROOTED, drew inspiration from natural elements that are widely recognized across many Asian cultures.

Design Elements

Lotus

The lotus became the primary visual symbol because it represents perseverance, resilience, and growth. Despite growing through difficult environments, it blooms into something beautiful—reflecting the journey of many students as they continue learning about themselves and preparing for the future.

Supporting Elements

To reinforce the theme, I incorporated:

• Bamboo to symbolize strength, adaptability, and resilience.

• Butterflies to represent transformation and personal growth.

• Flowing water to communicate continuous learning and life's evolving journey.

• Ribbons to create movement and connect visual elements throughout the branding.

Together, these elements established a visual language that felt calm, optimistic, and cohesive.

Final Theme Design:

Logo Development

The conference logo was designed to embody the theme while remaining flexible across both digital and print applications.

Beginning with multiple sketches and digital explorations, I iterated through several concepts before refining the final mark. These initial variations focused heavily on typography and included lotus motifs to compliment and played with the layout of the design.

I realized that the initial design was not scalable nor readable when placed in designs. This allowed me to shift my concept to a stamp idea that had the letters of ASAM as petals of the lotus, playing into the theme of the conference while simultaneously showcasing the lotus motif.

Throughout the process, I prioritized simplicity, memorability, and versatility so the logo could scale effectively across merchandise, social media, presentation slides, and promotional materials.

To increase flexibility, I created multiple color variations of the logo, including the primary red version and secondary blue version, allowing the identity to adapt seamlessly across different backgrounds and marketing assets while maintaining strong brand recognition.

Initial Iterations:

Final Logo Variations:

Building the Brand System

Beyond designing a logo, my goal was to develop a cohesive visual system that could unify every conference touchpoint.

The branding library established consistent guidelines for:

• Primary and secondary color palettes

• Typography hierarchy

• Logo usage

• Graphic elements

• Image treatments

• Layout spacing

• Visual hierarchy

• Reusable design templates

Having an established design system allowed new materials to be created efficiently while maintaining consistency throughout the conference planning process.

Typography

Typography played an important role in balancing warmth with clarity.

I paired a handwritten script typeface with a clean sans serif font to reflect both the personal and professional aspects of the conference. The script added personality and emphasized the theme's organic nature, while the sans serif maintained readability across social media, presentations, and printed materials.

Accessibility remained an important consideration throughout, ensuring text remained legible across different formats and viewing environments.

Social Media Campaign

Social media served as the primary communication channel leading up to the conference, requiring a flexible system that could support a variety of announcements while remaining visually consistent.

Over the course of the planning process, I designed graphics for:

I also redesigned the conference Linktree to align with the overall branding, creating a seamless experience across every digital touchpoint.

Social Media Feed: ASAM HSC Instagram Page

Merchandise & Conference Materials

The branding extended beyond digital media into physical materials that attendees interacted with throughout the conference.

I designed:

• Staff crewnecks, attendee and workshop facilitator shirts

• Stickers

• Badges/ Name Tags

• Presentation templates

• Conference schedule

• Event signage

Different apparel colors were intentionally assigned to distinguish staff, attendees, and workshop facilitators, improving navigation while reinforcing the conference identity.

Sticker Designs:

Merch Design: Logo (front), Design (back)

Name Tags:

Executive Board Reveal

To further strengthen the visual identity, I coordinated the executive board photoshoot and edited the final images used across promotional campaigns.

By maintaining consistent styling, editing, and graphic treatments, the photography became an extension of the conference brand and helped introduce attendees to the team behind the event.

Raw Images:

Final Designs:

Challenges

One of the biggest challenges throughout the project was managing frequent last-minute design requests while maintaining consistency across all materials.

To improve efficiency, I created reusable templates for recurring social media announcements and promotional graphics. This allowed me to quickly update information as details became finalized without redesigning each asset from scratch.

Later in the planning process, I also encountered personal circumstances that prevented me from attending the conference in person. To ensure a smooth experience, I coordinated closely with the conference presidents to hand off responsibilities related to photography and live social media coverage. Clear communication and preparation allowed the branding and event communications to remain consistent throughout the conference despite my absence.

Reflection

Serving as Design Chair taught me that branding extends far beyond creating a logo. It involves building a cohesive system that shapes every interaction someone has with an event—from the first Instagram post they see to the merchandise they wear and the presentations they experience throughout the day.

This project strengthened my ability to think systematically, collaborate across teams, adapt to changing priorities, and maintain a consistent visual identity over several months of planning. Most importantly, it reinforced how thoughtful design can create a stronger sense of community, belonging, and excitement for the people it serves.