Event Design: Cisco Security at Black Hat
I designed the tradeshow booth for Cisco Security’s presence at Black Hat USA 2023, an internationally recognized cybersecurity event. This included design of the booth as well as static and animated social ads.
Stakeholders: I collaborated with the design team, and partnered with the events team and third-party print production company.
Challenge: We needed a design that would reflect the style of Cisco’s key campaign at the time, “If it’s connected, it’s protected.” The booth needed to remain consistent with the look and feel of other Cisco Security events that year, but have a more youthful, edgy tone.
"If it's connected, it's protected." Campaign style. These two graphics were not designed by me, used for style example only.
The keywords I pulled from the brief were: youthful, edgy, grunge.
Solution: I started by selecting a collection of attention-grabbing images that evoked a more youthful or vibrant tone. I also swapped a smooth gradient with a grain to add texture to the space. Using these elements, I explored various options for the booth’s hero image.
Photos edited in Adobe Photoshop.
Grain texture gradient
Final hero image
Once the final hero image was selected and the graphic style was approved, I applied it to the rest of the space and applied the blue coil treatment from the “If it’s connected, it’s protected.” campaign. I created a seamless, wraparound graphic for the booth’s main structure. Since the majority of the booth was dark, I chose to offset this by bringing contrasting, white elements into the space through the demo stations and overhead hanging sign.
In addition to the booth, I was also responsible for:
static and animated social media graphics
tshirt
Main booth structure
Overhead: exterior all four sides
Overhead: interior two sides
Overhead: interior
Overhead: interior
Demo stations
NOC station
Social graphics
The Events Team requested static and social graphics to use across LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and X (Twitter). There was a need for general graphics for Cisco’s presence at the conference as well as social cards promoting speaking sessions. The graphics below were also adapted to the specs required for each social platform.
Designed in Adobe Illustrator with animations done in Adobe After Effects.
Giveaway tshirt
The giveaway tshirt was focused on Cisco’s XDR product with the tagline “See them coming.” I opted for a halftone, dot pattern for the letters XDR to tie into the grain effect in the booth design and used the white radar dots to go along with the shirt’s tagline.
Graphic designed in Adobe Illustrator.
