HardTech Forum
Skill Sets
Art Direction
Brand Identity + Guidelines
Web / UI Design
Since 2015, Vancouver Hardware Meetup has served as the city’s go-to grassroots gathering for hardware enthusiasts—a series by MistyWest featuring panel discussions with local leaders across sectors like AgTech, Deep Tech, and CleanTech. It was casual, community-driven, and proudly niche.
But in 2025, it was time to evolve.
Having reached over 1900 members, Vancouver Hardware Meetup’s audience and ambition grew broader, and thus was rebranded as HardTech Forum. Unlike the original meetup’s hyperlocal feel, HardTech Forum signals a bold, outward-looking platform designed to connect emerging startups, investors, and founders across different tech hubs like Vancouver, San Francisco and Seattle.
As the organizer of HardTech Forum and Brand Lead at MistyWest, I led the full rebrand—from positioning to visual identity to implementation.
My goal was to keep the community-first spirit of the original meetup while elevating it with a cohesive design system that reflects the Forum’s growing reach and influence.
The visual identity draws from two of MistyWest’s core brand colours, creating a sense of continuity while establishing a distinct presence for HardTech Forum. This palette also extends to MistyWest’s other flagship program, the HardTech Awards, creating visual harmony across MistyWest’s different series.
As the Community Manager, I also helped deepen engagement beyond the events themselves by launching the HardTech Forum Discord—a space where the community can stay connected year-round.
What started as a BC-based meetup has grown into a cross-border platform for conversations that are shaping the future of hardware commercialization.
