Strategy Unplugs TEDxChristchurch

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Strategy Creative has won praise from TEDxChristchurch over the weekend for the innovative design of the event’s identity. 

TEDxChristchurch was held on Saturday (October 28) at Christ’s College to a sell-out crowd of 200 people. Following on from a large event last year, the idea this year was to scale back into something more intimate under the theme Unplug. Reconnect.

As longtime partners of TEDxChristchurch, Strategy Creative was asked to develop a full event identity, including: programme, posters, event copy, signage, passes, and screen graphics.

“We wanted an identity which clearly illustrated that this year’s TEDx was all about unplugging from digital noise,” says TEDxChristchurch director Kaila Colbin.

“So the challenge for Strategy was to develop an identity which looked sharp but less clinical than traditional TEDx executions. It had to feel more organic and a touch grungy. What Strategy came up with absolutely blew us away.”


“Strategy drew inspiration from the unplugged music scene to create a programme which worked like a series of lo-fi band posters.”

To represent the theme, Strategy drew inspiration from the unplugged music scene to create a programme which worked more like a series of lo-fi band posters rather than a traditional glossy publication.

“I intentionally designed the programme to be deconstructed — with no staples or binding to keep the pages together — so it could be reused as a series of standalone posters,” said design director Chris Flack.

“In effect, most of the programme is really a series of posters folded together into a booklet form. I wanted to have some fun with the arrangement of words from one poster to the next and mash up the message on each poster.”

“As a result, TED’s tagline of ideas worth spreading became ideas worth stealing in the programme’s folded form, and we are a tribe became we are a cult.

The programme was produced by event partners Spectrum Print and BJ Ball Papers.

About Strategy
Strategy Creative is an international network of boutique agencies producing award-winning design and advertising. The group was founded in 1992 in Christchurch and now has studios in Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland, Sydney and Tokyo.


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