01 | Overview

Riptide is Innovative Design at USC’s annual design + tech conference. As VP of Externals, I led end-to-end planning for the 2024 edition: theme, speakers, venue, registration, branding direction, and day-of execution.

Riptide is USC’s largest student-organized design event and one of the most significant in Southern California. It connects early-career students with working professionals from the LA design industry a rare space where someone at their first design class sits next to someone who ships product at Riot or Figma. For Innovative Design, it’s the flagship event of the year.

My Role

I led the Externals Committee as VP of Externals, working with a committee of 5, and reporting to co-presidents.

I owned: theme definition, speaker sourcing and outreach, venue logistics, event permitting, Luma registration, attendee communications, MC script, and day-of execution. I also collaborated with the VP of Marketing to set the visual direction for the event.

The Challenge

The core challenge was programmatic, not visual: the theme had to be accessible to beginners and compelling to experienced designers at the same time.

We needed content that would get a theSr. Creative Director at Hartbeat or designers at Riot Games to give up a Friday afternoon while still being genuinely useful to a sophomore who just discovered Figma. Too niche and we lose the room. Too broad and we lose the speakers.

“Creating Beyond Dimensions,” focusing on multimedia and interdisciplinary design across AR/VR, game design, and immersive experience was the answer. It had a clear edge (frontier mediums, emerging tech) without being inaccessible.

That tension carried directly into how we curated speakers. We didn’t just look for impressive names. We looked for people who:

• Had hands-on experience with the theme’s topics

• Had worked with students before (prior conference speakers, recent grads, or active mentors)

• Could connect as people, not just as credentials

That’s how we landed Riot Games designers who build the games our attendees actually play, a USC professor moonlighting as Sr. Creative Director at Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat, and recent InnoD alum Lesley Moon incoming designer at Figma on the panel.

02 | Process

The Design Expo

I came into planning with the idea of adding a student art showcase to the conference. When my Creative Community Chair independently pitched a similar concept, I assigned her to lead it. The first-ever Design Expo ran alongside the networking hour where student artists displayed and sold their work in the same space as 100+ designers and professionals.

It’s now a permanent part of Riptide.

Design

I collaborated with Innovative Design’s VP of Marketing to define the visual identity (color, type direction, and overall event aesthetic). The Marketing Committee executed the assets under that direction.

Outcomes

• 100+ attendees — largest student design conference in Southern California

• Speakers from Riot Games, Hartbeat, 72andSunny, Figma, Seemingly Virtual, and Shmood

• 5 breakout workshops + 1 group workshop + 1 keynote + 1 professional panel

• First-ever Design Expo, now an annual InnoDat event

• Sponsorships from Figma, Notion, The Browser Company, AlaniNu, and KACE Tea

• Full filming approval, USC Campus Groups official listing

03 | Reflection

Proud of: The scale, the speaker caliber, and the Design Expo. Running the largest student design conference in SoCal as a full-time student was difficult but with the support of fellow creatives, it was a success. More importantly, it actually served early-career designers in a real way.

Would do differently: Start outreach earlier. Many speakers were slow to commit because they couldn’t visualize the scale of the event. Some of our speakers cancelled last minute while others pivoted to remote. Better lead time and stronger credibility materials would have fixed most of that friction.