Our Team
Founder: Sarah
Programming: Liam, Marissa, Abigail
Operations & Finance: Jonalynn, Alyssa
Design: Aidan
Marketing: Jasmine
Sponsor Relations: Brianna, Sandria
How we started
As a business-student-turned-design-thinker, I found that there were many students at universities unsure of what they wanted to do and why - many believed they were not creative, and so the word “design thinking” was intimidating.
Through student organizations like Design For America @ USC, I’d learned that design thinking was simply a framework to better empathize and solve problems across all fields. My hypothesis was that there was a critical mass of non-design students eager to learn ways to creatively problem solve in their respective areas of study.
Partners & Sponsors
Student Organizations: Design for America, USC AIGA, Adobe @ USC - Undergraduate Student Government, LavaLab, SparkSC
Corporate Sponsors:
How might we create a learning opportunity where students can learn about the various applications of design thinking, and be empowered to embrace their interdisciplinary interests?
Roadmap
Delegation, delegation, delegation
Designating teams based on experience and interest. Some were amazing visual designers, some were passionate about creating a curriculum for the conference, and some had industry connections that were equally as passionate about knowledge-sharing.
My main responsibility was to ensure that we were following our roadmap to make our event come to life, but as the loudest voice behind the initiative, to also reach out to potential sponsors and speakers, pitching the mission of our conference and the value it would bring students.
A more detailed calendar was created afterwards for check-ins between myself and each team.
Branding
Our final logo was a Fibonacci wave, combining the precision of technical solutions and the fluid, but groundbreaking nature of disruptive design.
Riptide was an acronym for the design thinking process - research, ideation, prototyping, testing, iteration - targeted towards designers and engineers, continuing the spirit of intersectionality.
Programming
Iterating on a curriculum
Considering the audience would be mostly new to the concept of design thinking, we developed a program that would carry attendees through the key stages of design thinking through speaker anecdotes. Initially we had a weekend conference - hackathon style, but later condensed the sessions for our “MVP” year. After all, our hypothesis for Riptide had yet to be tested.
Anchoring our north star
We made an intentional decision to contact speakers from diverse backgrounds in order to show attendees that design thinking was applicable across industries.
Piecing the schedule together involved clear communication about our conference mission, as well as flexibility around the stories each speaker brought to the table.
In the end, our line-up of speakers ranged from entrepreneurs from medical and consulting backgrounds, UX designers in tech, researchers in entertainment, and mechanical engineers.
Marketing
Outward strategy
Because we were a brand new entity on USC campus, we had relatively limited online reach and presence. To combat this, we partnered with our respective student organizations and sponsors to push content and engagement campaigns leading up to the event.
Campaigns included:
Giveaways (Adobe, Wacom, General Assembly)
Design Software tutorials in preparation for workshops
Social Media blasts with corporate sponsors (AIGA Los Angeles, USC Iovine & Young Academy) and USC partners (Design for America, USC AIGA, Adobe @ USC, LavaLab, SparkSC)
Combined Social Media Reach*
9.1K from corporate sponsors
17.1K from USC partners
*: between 8/17/2018 - 10/1/2018
Facebook Event Analytics
7.7K reach
27.6K impressions
3.3K engagement
Outcome
Success and beyond
Thanks to a fantastic team and wonderful speakers, the inaugural Riptide Design Summit was a huge success. Our hypothesis was validated, with a total of 252 attendees registered and another 120 on the waitlist. About 90% were university students across Southern California, while the other 10% were industry professionals.
Universities of Attendees
7 universities
USC
UCLA
Santa Monica College
Cal Poly Pomona
CSULB
CSULA
Majors of Attendees
121 different majors
Most Represented:
Business Administration
Arts, Technology & the Business of Innovation
Computer Science
Engineering
Fine Art/Design
Notable Majors: Economics, Public Policy, Social Entrepreneurship
“There aren't many learning opportunities for students interested in creative and technical industries. This might've been the first one around LA.”
— Eesan Sivapalan, USC Computer Science ‘20
Since 2018, Riptide Summit has become an annual design thinking conference at USC, open to all university students in the area.
It retains its original mission to create spaces to learn about empathetic and interdisciplinary problem-solving.