Design & AI Symposium 2024

Design & AI Symposium 2024: a new visual language for AI 

Background


As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to grow in popularity, it becomes increasingly difficult to avoid visual clichés when representing this complex field. Eindhoven University of Technology recognized this challenge and approached CLEVER°FRANKE to design the visual identity for their Design & AI Symposium.

Challenge


The primary challenge was to create a unique and meaningful visual identity that moved beyond typical AI imagery and instead revealed the inner workings of LLMs. The design needed to make the complexity and significance of these systems accessible, allowing audiences to see AI from the inside out while enhancing the symposium's appeal.

Idea


To address this, we developed a generative identity grounded in real data. Using a large language model (LLM), we processed text fragments from a dataset of academic papers on the topic of design and AI to create vector embeddings, which we then plotted into a three-dimensional space. With the identity design we dive into this space and its multiple perspectives, annotating snippets of the text that makes up the embeddings and providing a visual representation of the inner workings of the LLM.

Additionally, we built a custom tool that allows the organizers of the symposium to generate new visuals themselves, ensuring flexibility and adaptability in their branding.

Relevance


The result was a unified, data-driven visual identity that not only enhanced the symposium's branding but also provided attendees with a deeper understanding of AI’s complexity. This innovative approach elevated the conference experience, setting a new standard for how AI can be visually represented.