AWS re:Invent Homepage Experience (2019 - 2022)
Building companion web experiences as exciting as the main event
Role: Creative Director, Photo Art Director, UX Lead
*Sensitive material has been redacted, removed or replaced.
AWS re:Invent is the largest annual cloud computing conference operated by Amazon Web Services. On site, upwards of 50,000 visitors will attend, with at least quadruple that number attending virtually. The amount of new innovations, announcements, products and services that are announced is typically 100+, presenting unique challenges for how that content is shared with customers in a way that isn’t overwhelming. In fact, it should feel fresh and invigorating just like the in-person experience is.
For three years I owned with this project (with alumnus / mentor involvement for another year after leaving the team); serving as Creative Director and UX Lead for the re:Invent homepage takeovers that curated event content. My goal was to deliver a companion web experience that educated, enriched, and excited. In doing so, each year, I developed concepts that I presented up to the executive level, and then worked with development, engineering, design, and product teams across the company to bring visions to life. It truly was full-circle ownership from kick-off through conclusion.
Integrating the brand into every aspect of creative direction
While the AWS Events team was responsible for developing the brand kit from year-to-year, they left specific web considerations up to me. This meant that I could shift visual elements and colors as needed (for accessibility or otherwise) to deliver design elements that fulfilled our needs while staying true to the spirit of the brand. This modified palette was then used to develop and deliver the hundreds of photos, cards, ad placements, illustration systems, 3D renderings and other brand expressions that would comprise the overall website experience through the 20+ phases of it’s lifecycle.
UX patterns & components that delight (and protect)
As part of defining the web experience, I designed and developed myriad components that illustrated rollover states, fail-over states, additional content / announcement banners and more that guided the development of the takeover. These elements also gave options for unexpected feature announcements that might arrive last-minute. Truly everything had to be considered early on to ensure smooth operations and a quality user experience throughout the event.
Conclusions
Design ownership over the re:Invent homepage takeover experience encompassed a full 6-months from kickoff through delivery each year. It involved consideration and integration of new web technologies and concepts that pushed the boundaries of what our internal CMS was capable of. Every year, 20+ phases of the experience had to be planned and designed for, with the ability to rapidly alter course to accommodate the unexpected. While results can’t be quantified in “number of signups” or a metric like that, every year, the takeover would receive upwards of one million page views during the event with another million+ during the month after the event concluded.
Ownership of the event experience meant building trust with, considering / anticipating the needs of, and delivering the promises made to the many partner teams and individual stakeholders involved. Having done this successfully for three years with another year as “alumnus support & mentor” is something I am especially proud of.
