HardTech Forum
Skill Sets
Art Direction
Brand Identity + Guidelines
Web / UI Design
Vancouver Hardware Meetup served as the city’s go-to scrappy gathering for hardware enthusiasts since 2015. It was casual, community-driven, and proudly niche, hosting panel discussions with local leaders across sectors like AgTech, Deep Tech, and CleanTech.
But in 2025, it was time to evolve.
Vancouver Hardware Meetup’s audience had grown to 1900 members—the largest hardware meetup in Canada, and 4th largest in the world. For organizers MistyWest, the vision had grown broader and more outward-facing: connecting emerging startups, investors, and founders across major tech hubs.
As the Brand Lead at MistyWest (and host of Vancouver Hardware Meetup since 2019), I led the full rebrand to HardTech Forum—from positioning to visual identity to implementation.
The goal was to preserve the meetup’s grassroots spirit while elevating it with a cohesive identity that reflected its growing reach and influence as it expanded into San Francisco and Seattle.
The visual system draws from two of MistyWest’s core brand colours, creating continuity with the parent brand while establishing a distinct presence for HardTech Forum. The palette also extends to MistyWest’s other flagship series, the HardTech Awards, creating visual cohesion across initiatives.
By evolving the identity, the Forum was able to scale its presence, attract new audiences, and create a stronger sense of cohesion across MistyWest’s growing community initiatives. It is now positioned as more than a meetup—it’s a recognizable platform for connection, visibility, and momentum around hardware commercialization.
The project reflects my approach to brand building: creating identities that balance strategic clarity with cultural relevance, and that can evolve alongside the communities behind them.
