Problem & Solution

In 2020, about 25% of GAFAM's employees are female. (Source: Statista)

GAFAM is an acronym for Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft. Here's the breakdown of females in the United States top five technology companies:

• Google - 23%

• Apple - 23%

• Facebook - 23%

• Amazon - n/a

• Microsoft - 20%

• The ratio of men to women in engineering is 5:1.

Personally, I think the data is about right. It was a sunny afternoon, my colleagues Matt and Laura looped me in on their conversation regarding this issue and we decide to host a female community that is free, inclusive, and resourceful to women who want to enter the cybersecurity space but do not know where to start.

Logo and brand development

The goal of the logo is to be inclusive, empowering, and welcoming. I began by looking for visual inspirations that represent those expressions. Among many directions, Ruby diamond is the most feminine, strong, and can be rearranged in different ways, I thought it would be great to incorporate that concept into the visual element. I did a few iterations towards that concept and played around with the color.

Soon I realized the direction was visually interesting, but the legibility and scalability were poor. What if people want to print the logo in black and white? It will look mushy!

Brand Identity

After several rounds of review and discussion, we came up with a final logo that was well received by team members and audience members. From there, the possibilities are endless! I had so much fun designing a brand system around the logo, from business cards to large agenda posters, from digital to physical. It gives me great satisfaction to see ladies with T-shirts I designed, bags I ordered, and guiding signs I created at the conference. The impact feels so tangible.

So proud of the growth!

We receive a lot of positive feedback on social media posts. We grow attendees, volunteers, event vendors, sponsorships, and partnerships. It really feels like watching a seed grow into a beautiful flower. 🌺

The Day of Security has officially been registered by Lookout as an independent organization. This chart shows the growth in the number of attendees.

Outcomes

THE WINS

Lookout was able to hire 2 female security professionals through the event, as well as help other companies recruit. In addition, we were able to expand the event from 22 to 1,200 people. An increase of 550%! We also receive sponsorships and engagement from many reputable companies, including Google, Airbnb, Netflix, etc.

THE LOSSES

Having to do so much time-sensitive design work for these events, I burned myself out eventually. Delegating design duties such as social media posts and meetup images to untrained staff makes it difficult to control and manage the design brand. I was not able to scale the design as fast as the conference itself.

Lessons Learned

• Workload balance between a full-time job and side projects. While seeing the impact can be addicting, burnout is difficult to overcome.

• Conference impact has a snowball effect. The better you are, the more resources will join

• Perfectionism only bothers the perfectionist himself or herself

• I enjoy physical product design and conference experience design a lot. It's rewarding for me