TEDxPhilly 2011
Where
TED
Meets
the City
Creative direction of Philadelphia's independently organized TED event — from brand identity and stage installation to digital campaign and a 100-page community-built program.
TEDxPhilly 2011
Creative direction of Philadelphia's independently organized TED event — from brand identity and stage installation to digital campaign and a 100-page community-built program.
Background
TEDxPhilly began in 2009 as a small, community-driven gathering. What started as an invitation-only affair quickly grew into one of the most recognized independently organized TED events — amplifying ideas and voices that might never reach a global stage otherwise.
TED empowers local communities through the TEDx program, giving them the tools to find their own ideas worth spreading. For Philadelphia — a city with no shortage of either grit or genius — TEDxPhilly was exactly that.
2011 Event Theme
The City
The Brief
...on a shoestring budget.
The Answer Literally Came From the Streets
The team started noticing discarded cardboard boxes accumulating on recycling day and began collecting them weeks ahead of production. Those individual boxes became an almost photographic replica of Philadelphia's iconic skyline — lit in TED signature red, with cinder-shaded sides to exaggerate depth and perspective.
What started as street salvage became a cohesive visual identity that stretched across every medium: stage, screen, print, digital, and apparel.
"The cardboard skyline wasn't a compromise — it became the story. The best ideas often come from working with what you have."
Event badge & shirt · Digital campaign · Environmental design · Promotional · Website
The Event Experience
That same spirit that shaped the stage installation extended to every touchpoint — including the event program. Rather than a standard event guide, the program became a community art project: a 100-page document built from submissions by local artists, curators, marketers, video editors, and sponsors.
Before the event, a call for contributions went out with a single simple prompt: The City. The response produced a rich, diverse range of perspectives — transforming the program into a canvas as layered as Philadelphia itself.
The venue itself set the stage — a converted temple-turned-theater on North Broad Street.
Temple Performing Arts Center · Philadelphia, PA
The Venue
The venue itself set a high bar: the Tempus Performing Arts Center, a stunning converted temple-turned-theater on North Broad Street, delivered an equally considered approach to every touchpoint — registration, vendor zone, a chill-out workspace, and most critically, the stage.
The cardboard skyline, lit in TED red, stood anchored behind the speaker mark on the floor — a giant red X — making every moment on stage immediately cinematic.
Reflections
When you invite a city to tell its own story, extraordinary things happen. Curators, marketers, video editors, and sponsors all came together — collaboration was the engine. The creative brief was the shared vision; execution required trust in every direction.
A minimal budget didn't mean a minimal experience. Resourcefulness and strong local connections produced something that felt anything but scrappy. The cardboard skyline wasn't a compromise — it became the story. The best ideas often come from working with what you have.
Honoring a global brand identity while celebrating the city that inspired the theme wasn't a tension — it was the opportunity. TED's red. Philadelphia's grit. They weren't competing; they were collaborating. The strongest work happens at that intersection.