Meta Connect 22

With so many layers and different aspects to focus on for Meta Connect 2022, we needed a strong concept to tie everything together. We were on the hook for a visual style guide, a presenter’s session deck, an event package, social media assets, sizzle reels, and more.

Inspired by Meta’s vision of VR as an extension of the real world, we explored the symbiotic relationship between them — finding a balanced juxtaposition of real-life elements (mineral-like textures and the like) and the metaverse layer.

By merging Meta’s core brand identity with components designed specifically for the event, we discovered our visual approach. Their newly created brand elements hadn’t really been exhibited before, so we were excited to fuse the fresh face of their brand with our concept for this year’s event.

From there, we began our journey into combining raw materials and metaverse-inspired layers. These layers affected our designed objects with colorful, projected light patterns and subtle surface deformations. The process established a dramatic display of contrasts, with the real, concrete elements acting as a drawing board for our kaleidoscopic inventions of shape and color.

Seminal architect Frank Gehry’s work on MPK21, Meta’s new state of the art campus, was the wellspring of inspiration for the real materials in our visual system. The architect’s choice of exposed raw materials in the building’s design and construction became our structure — the base for the metaverse layer to be projected onto.

Combining expressive, human qualities the colorful, animated patterns that represented the metaverse were created by BUCK artists. Once projected onto our raw materials, they became emblematic of the limitless creative possibilities that virtual reality provides when the constraints of the real world are removed.

What prevailed through these dichotomous environments and materials was a visual source of communication — a constant theme of one influencing the other. It is within this back and forth between environments where our story was grounded.

From a technical standpoint, this was a great achievement. The effort and synergy between nearly every BUCK department was perfectly in sync and fluid.

Striking the right balance between core brand and bespoke elements served as an exciting challenge for the team to establish our visual approach. This was all captured in a comprehensive style guide for both design and motion to inform other vendors involved in the event as well.

A modular motion system, developed by our animation team, optimized the post-production aspect of our package — allowing editors the freedom to assemble every element in a variety of dynamic ways.

This project was a testament to discovery and collaboration. A gradual process of exploration allowed each department to flex its experimental side, given we were working from a comparatively open brief without much reference to go on.

Behind all of this was a genuine excitement to develop an entirely new visual language and identity for Meta Connect. What started as something abstract and formless became concrete and one-of-kind. The challenge was in how to maintain consistency and meet the various demands posed by an event with this many moving parts.