Designing the visual identity for the Next Economies Forum has been less of a linear project and more of a conversation that started with a relatively contained conference identity and gradually expanded into a shared visual language across multiple platforms, teams, and contexts.
What I’ve found myself returning to throughout its journey is something pretty simple: I like centring my visual thinking around a single, graspable concept. Call it a launch pad if you will. Everything else becomes an exploration of how far that idea can evolve before it breaks. Sometimes it does break into something else, and that is also ok.
IPEC: Starting with something simple enough to hold
The first installment was the visual identity for the International Prosumer Economies Conference in 2024 (IPEC), working with the existing identity of Türetim Ekonomisi Derneği. There was already a logo and a colour system in place, which meant the work was about finding clarity inside constraints without starting from scratch.
My brief was fairly clear: keep the colours, keep the fonts, but give IPEC its own distinct voice within that system.
I started from a simple idea: prosumer = producer + consumer. That naturally led to a Venn diagram. In the overlap of two circles, a form appears - a leaf. A symbol of regeneration, of ecological balance, of staying in relationship with Spaceship Earth rather than extracting from it.
The leaf is pretty obvious, I’ll admit. But sometimes obvious is just another word for legible. The more interesting work, for me, is not avoiding the cliché but figuring out how to reframe it until it feels new.
In the end, the Venn diagram never really showed up explicitly in the identity. It became something more subtle, more like the logic behind a system of patterns and forms. I like that. Sometimes the starting point is not meant to be obvious.
What emerged was a simplified geometric language and a circular graphic system that could carry the entire identity. I kept motion extremely light, just enough to suggest that the system was alive.
Practically, it mattered that this wasn’t over-engineered. I built a lot of stuff directly in Figma and then in Canva, because they were already the tools the Communications team were using. I didn’t want a system that needed me in order to function. The formats were mostly screens and roll-up panels anyway, so the restraint felt appropriate rather than limiting.
Türetim: Letting the mark become simpler than the idea
The next step was revisiting the identity of Türetim Ekonomisi Derneği (Prosumer Economy Society) itself. We decided the full name was difficult to remember, and even more of a mouthful to say. Instead of condensing it into an acronym, we decided to embrace the first word: Türetim. It felt memorable, and, most importantly, it carried the essence of what the organisation stands for.
The word Türetim itself exists as a Turkish linguistic term, meaning “to derive” a new meaning from an existing word by adding a suffix or prefix to it. In this context, however, it takes on a new meaning as a portmanteau word. Just as producer and consumer combine to form prosumer, tüketim (consumption) and üretim (production) come together to form türetim. Wonderfully meta!
The original logo had a strong idea behind it: a tree of life representing the türetim/prosumer cycle, which we wanted to protect, but I felt the identity deserved to be just as simple as its concept. So, in alignment with the team, we shifted towards a mark built on the golden ratio spiral within the original logo. The spiral sits boldly within the new wordmark, resting on top of the “e” in Türetim which mirrors the spiral form in an almost intuitive way.
The decision to simplify changed the tone of the identity completely. It became cleaner, more confident, less illustrative without veering into corporate blandness. More like something that trusts the viewer to meet it halfway.
It’s still one of the pieces of work I feel closest to, precisely because of how much was removed rather than added.
Next Economies Summit: Growing the system without breaking it
From there, I designed the evolved form of IPEC as it transformed into the Next Economies Summit (NES25). The intention remained the same: an identity that is easy to use, flexible enough to evolve, and playful enough to embrace imperfection, while staying confident and clear in what it has to say.
It also needed to sit closer to the updated Türetim identity. In a way, both systems started feeding into each other’s evolution, almost as a reflection of what they stand for: regeneration and prosumerism.
The identity for Next Economies was built around hand-drawn patterns inspired by natural structures: growth, iteration, irregularity and diversity. Things that emerge from what came before, feel ordered, but never quite behave perfectly. It felt like an almost perfect way to describe regeneration. In turn, the Summit identity became less of a fixed system and more of something that could respond, evolve, and make and become together.
Next Economies Forum: Keeping the identity, shifting the context
The latest evolution is the Next Economies Forum (NEF27), which will take place in 2027 in Cairo.
Here, the decision was not to reinvent the identity. It’s only been alive for a short period of time and deserves some space to expand.
The core system from the previous iteration, the Summit (NES25), remains. We kept the same visual textures and the same underlying logic, but this time it carries a new layer of context. I expanded the patterns and the colour palette with new colours inspired by the region: turquoise blues and earthy tones, the lotus flower and the Nile as an implicit reference.
The intention was never to “thematise Egypt” in a surface-level way. It was to let the identity breathe differently in a new environment and to acknowledge place without turning it into symbolism for its own sake.
I’m looking forward to seeing how the identity continues to grow through the Forum (NEF27) and beyond.
What stays with me
Looking back across all of these iterations - IPEC, Türetim, the Next Economies Summit, the Forum - what I value most is the way each stage fed the next and evolved.
The identities didn’t replace each other. Instead, they built upon and then refined each other. I think that feels closer to how I think about design rather than an expected idea of a standalone “final” design solution.
You start somewhere simple enough to hold an intention and a seed together with kindred spirits. When the right conditions serendipitously come together the seed you hold in your hands grows into something you didn’t fully anticipate. I think that’s the beauty of regeneration. At the end it is all relational.
Thank you for creating such beautiful visuals for Next Economies. It was also wonderful to have you with us at the Next Economies Forum. We truly appreciate your support! 🌍💚
Thank you for all that you have done for the field @Funda Çevik Dinsdale