MomoCon Visual and Media Design
JIANZHUO “ERIC” WU PORTFOLIO WORK MOMOCON DESIGN 1 Context
MomoCon is a fan-created annual anime and gaming convention in Atlanta, GA. Starting from a humble beginning of a few hundred attendees at the Georgia Institute of Technology campus, it now boasts around 40,000 attendees at Georgia World Congress Center, the 3rd largest convention center in the US.
I worked at MomoCon as Director of Internal Media from 2012 – 2015. I started as the sole designer and designed the convention’s program books, signage, and promotional materials; and worked to shape its visual identity.
MomoCon Convention at the Georgia World Congress Center
JIANZHUO “ERIC” WU PORTFOLIO WORK MOMOCON DESIGN 02 The Problem
At the time of my joining, MomoCon was a small anime convention that operated free of charge on the campus of Georgia Institute of Technology. Its visual design was humble as well.
MomoCon was ambitiously expanding and required a variety of visual assets – from its program book, a standard issue guide of the convention for attendees, to signs, posters, ads, and even street banners – to establish its brand among the anime and gaming community.
MomoCon needs to define its visual identity to better market itself to its attendees, industry guests, and company partnerships. And a unified vision of its visual design is required to drive its identity.
The Original MomoCon program book when I joined. It was mostly black-and-white and had room for lots of visual branding and improvements.
JIANZHUO “ERIC” WU PORTFOLIO WORK MOMOCON DESIGN 03 My Role
Director of Internal Media / Visual Designer / Lead Designer
I joined as the sole designer on a small team of about 15 people handling different operations of the convention (from event and guest coordination to catering to crowd control).
It was my responsibility to define the visual identity of and design the convention’s program books, signs, posters, banners, and promotional materials. I oversaw the end-to-end process of the convention’s visual aspects (from initial requirements to the design itself to delivery and production).
I created and implemented a design style guide to maintain consistency in the look and feel across the different media; and established a design system to facilitate efficient creation of visual assets.
JIANZHUO “ERIC” WU PORTFOLIO WORK MOMOCON DESIGN 04 The Solution Program Books
MomoCon Program Books 2013 - 2015 MomoCon 2013 Program Book - inner cover spread Each year has a different theme (left to right: Atlantis, Circus, Superheros) Locations (e.g. Registration Table, Artist Alley, etc.) are color-coded and with icon in front. This system is used throughout the book and is present on the maps for attendees’ convenience.
JIANZHUO “ERIC” WU PORTFOLIO WORK MOMOCON DESIGN 05 Program Books
MomoCon 2014 Program Book - inner cover spread Theme: circus
2014 was a special year for MomoCon as it’s the 10 year anniversary. MomoCon had a large attendance of ~15,000 people. MomoCon 2013 Program Book - schedule spread
JIANZHUO “ERIC” WU PORTFOLIO WORK MOMOCON DESIGN 06 Program Books
MomoCon 2015 Program Book - inner cover spread MomoCon 2015 Program Book - panel description spread Theme: comic book superheroes The badge and color-code system can be seen for each panel’s location.
In 2015, MomoCon became a 4-day event and added comic-related events to its schedule, becoming an anime/gaming/comic convention. Thus its theme this year was superheroes. 2015 saw a large jump in popularity, with attendees around 22,600.
JIANZHUO “ERIC” WU PORTFOLIO WORK MOMOCON DESIGN 07 Convention Map System
Being an attendee of MomoCon myself, I had difficulty locating events or rooms, a common pain point for attendees and staff volunteers.
Events are categorized as Main Events, Fan
Panels, etc. And each room at the venue are of Legends beneath the map indicates the a particular category. However, no distinction location category. for the categories was on either the schedule or map, making it harder to locate the event you wanted to attend.
Close-up of the map showing the color-coded badge system. I created a system of using icon badges of different colors for the various event categories. Using this system of color-coding, a viewer can quickly find where to go next.
This system has been in place since I implemented it in 2013, leading to familiarity Maps are placed on a page spread in the book Close-ups of page elements. Locations for convention panels so attendees can always see the whole map at with the convention attendees. and events are color-coded throughout the book. a glance.
JIANZHUO “ERIC” WU PORTFOLIO WORK MOMOCON DESIGN 08 Design System Elements
I created style guides and a design Map Icons Design Elements template system so that I could maintain Registration Main Events Workshops the consistency of the look and feel across Event Panels Concerts Video Rooms different media. Inline Text Map Badges As MomoCon expanded, we would have Room Location 1 Info Booth 1 Artist Alley 1 other staff or volunteers onboard who Color Palette helped design elements such as room schedule signs and other assets.
#E5D8C5 #B22525 #791E1E #306481 #89C494 The style guide and template system guided other designers and facilitated a Typography quick, efficient process for creating assets with a consistent look and feel. Rosewood Std Main Header Typeface: Rosewood Std / Size: 48px / Weight: Regular
Mesquite Std Header Two Typeface: Mesquite Std / Size: 34 / Weight: Regular / Tracking: 50
Helvetica Neue Copy Text Typeface: Helvetica Neue / Size: 11pt / Weight: Regular
JIANZHUO “ERIC” WU PORTFOLIO WORK MOMOCON DESIGN 09 Promotional Materials
I worked on a number of promotional materials throughout the year, both physical and online, to promote MomoCon.
Promotional postcard sent to students and fans.
Flyer introducing MomoCon’s special guests. Promotional advertisement posted around the Poster advertising MomoCon Night at the Georgia Tech campus. Georgia Aquarium
JIANZHUO “ERIC” WU PORTFOLIO WORK MOMOCON DESIGN 10 Results and Takeaway
With the redesign of the program book, we have received an increase in favorable post-convention survey results. The color-coded map system reduced attendees’ confusion, as we saw a decrease in their asking for directions from convention staff. Our rising popularity has seen us get sponsored by a “Atlanta Welcomes” campaign where I got to design banners that were put on the city streets, greatly raising awareness of MomoCon among Atlantans.
In my time from 2012 to 2015 as Director of Internal Media, we have seen attendance grow from ~8,600 to ~22,600 (+163% increase, or about +54% YoY) in part through our marketing efforts. We switched to a large venue at the Georgia World Congress Center. Our number of industry guests and content creators rose from 23 to 63, giving us credence with fans. We had struck partnership with businesses such as Turner Media, Cartoon Network, Hi Rez Studios, and Riot Games.
MomoCon got recognized by the City of Atlanta for its impact and philanthropy to the city in 2013. Street banners placed around downtown Atlanta for the “Atlanta Welcomes” campaign.
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