The Fortune Innovation Conference

Discipline: Experience design
Format: Exhibit, Information graphic, Booklet
Design firm: Stone Yamashita Partners
Creative directors: Tom Andrews, Lisa Maulhardt, Susana Rodriguez, Susan Schuman, Keith Yamashita
Art directors: Johnson Chow, Vander McClain, Susana Rodriguez
Designers: Johnson Chow, Becky Hui, Juliu Liu, Nicolas Maitret, Vander McClain
Illustrators: Becky Hui, Nicolar Maitret, Vander McClain
Photographer: Gala Narezo
Production directors: Anne Bodel, Michelle Roach
Production coordinator: Gabriella Rossi
Production artists: Justin Fedewa, Gabriella Rossi
Writers: Nicolas Anderson, Isobel Gotto, Jim Humes, Tom Raith
Content strategists: Nicolas Anderson, Isobel Gotto, Jim Humes, Tom Raith
Project manager: Leyla Farah
Structural designer: Johnson Chow
Printer: Colorbar
Printing method: Sheetfed
Papers: Finch Opaque Smooth, Bright White: 80 lb. cover, 60 lb. text
Typeface: GE Inspira
Client: Fortune

Fortune approached Stone Yamashita Partners and our client GE with the challenge of creating an immersive experience for the attendees of its Innovation Conference—held in New York in November 2005.

The Fortune Innovation Conference attracted attendees that included CEOs, directors and managers. Our objective was to communicate with them on several different levels and to make the experience valuable to anyone charged with driving change and innovation within their organizations.

Using the concepts of culture, roles, processes and models that we developed with GE, we set out to build an experience that would make abstract concepts real for participants. In doing so we designed and built a hands-on “lab” where participants could try out new techniques and engage in a dialog about what works and what does not.

We also created several presentation and exercise tools for participants, including a guide to the “World’s Largest Innovation Lab,” a workbook that enabled participants to further explore each exercise, as well as share the experience and innovation process with colleagues who were unable to attend. We also made a 30-by-8-foot-long wall of paper pads that showed examples of breakthrough innovations, and invited attendees to tear off the sheets they found inspiring for their own businesses.

Juror Notes
They created an interactive space with no technology whatsoever, specifically targeted to this event.

All the graphics are well done; reminds us of what Eames did for IBM.

Highly content-rich.

The entire space is there to provoke conversation between attendees.

The content development gets one half of the award.