Bit by bit: how Play designed a fresh and fitting identity for OpenAI’s first DevDay conference

When OpenAI decided to host its very first DevDay – a one-day conference for hundreds of developers from around the globe – it began looking for an identity that would capture not just the forward-looking spirit of the company, but also this new venture that creates a space for a diverse pool of talent to meet and exchange ideas. San Francisco-based design studio Play, working alongside OpenAI’s Design team, took on the challenge and delivered a brand for the conference that feels both fresh and fitting, but in order to do so, they had to take a step back and look at the bigger picture for a starting point. “We wanted to create something that would really speak to the DevDay attendees,” shares Founder & Executive Creative Director Casey Martin. “We’re talking about software and app developers from all over the planet. People who speak and build through code. So we thought why not speak to them in their own language? Why not build a design system centred around the foundational building block of computer data – the bit?” Once Play and the OpenAI Design team landed on the ‘bit’ – also known as the binary digit, the smallest unit of data that a computer can process and store – as the hero, they “went wild from there,” Martin adds. Experimenting and playing with the idea, they came up with numerous speckled patterns. They tugged at proportions, creating abstract results – from enlarged compositions, to a radiating ring made up of a smattering of pixels “that could scale up and down to macro and micro levels across all kinds of touchpoints.” Play looked both within and outside the world of tech and conferences for points of inspiration of how this one idea for the identity could wrap around the whole event space. “We were interested in finding inspiration for event-specific opportunities to flex our design system’s strengths, like stage design and take-home swag,” shares Martin. The square bit served as their North Star at every touchpoint. “Its simplicity proved to be an incredibly strong asset, and it allowed for amazing flexibility,” he says.