Design

Design Notes from The Assembly 2025

by Michael Brown May 22, 2025

This was more than an event. It was an experience shaped by place, purpose, and the people it welcomed.

This year’s Assembly brought our clients and team to the Cliff House in Cape Neddick, Maine, where the theme of “The Odysseys” set the tone for a thoughtful and immersive experience. This post offers a look at how intentional design shaped each moment—and how those details helped guests feel both grounded and welcomed.

Designed for Place, Felt by People

Aerial view of Cliff House Maine, the site of the 2025 Assembly, perched on a rocky coastline with ocean waves and surrounding greenery under soft daylight. — *Photo courtesy of Cliff House*

Cape Neddick’s rugged coastline wasn’t just a backdrop. It was a cue. The location informed the tone of every design decision that followed. From the wind-swept horizon to the salted air, the physical setting encouraged reflection, curiosity, and exploration. That spirit carried through in the design. Matte finishes, weathered colors, and materials like rope, leather, and brass grounded every detail in place.

Close-up of three custom credentials from The Assembly 2025, laid on a coastal rock. Each features a leather lanyard and personalized maritime flag symbol, with color-coded borders indicating attendee type.

Guests received a leather lanyard with antique brass hardware, secured with a lobster claw closure—a nod to the rugged coastal setting. Attached to it was a credential printed on waterproof, recyclable paper, designed to balance durability with meaning. Each element was layered with symbolism: color variations identified guest type—red for returning attendees, green for first-time guests, and blue for the One North team—offering a subtle way to spark conversation.

The front featured maritime flag symbols that spelled “CNM” for Cape Neddick, Maine, while a brass grommet reinforced both function and visual reference to seafaring tools. Typography played its part as well, combining a modern sans serif from our brand system with a relaxed, handwritten-style display typeface to strike a tone that felt both polished and personable.

Sustainable by Design

Side-by-side images from The Assembly 2025 in Cape Neddick, Maine. On the left, two red and white Buoy eco water bottles with Assembly branding rest on seaweed-covered rocks by the ocean. On the right, a blue-labeled event credential for attendee Myohan Oh sits on wet stones, showcasing the waterproof material and leather lanyard.

The best design decisions do more than serve a function. They reflect values. This year, our team made a considered choice to gift water bottles from Buoy, made from 100-percent ocean-bound plastic and produced entirely with solar power in the U.S. The custom red-and-white design nods to traditional coastal buoys and fit naturally into the visual system.

That same mindset guided our print and packaging decisions. Credentials were printed and grommeted in-house, minimizing waste and enabling late-stage updates. The waterproof paper, sourced from Rite in the Rain, offered durability without the need for plastic sleeves and allowed us to order in exact quantities. Materials were packed efficiently, and the majority of refuse was responsibly recycled. When items could not be shipped back to our office, they were donated locally to avoid unnecessary waste.

Every Detail, On Purpose

Composite image featuring welcome materials from The Assembly 2025. On the left, a canvas tote bag with rope handles and The Assembly logo hangs against dark coastal rocks. On the right, a close-up shows a red water bottle, a kraft envelope with red string tie closure, a white pen, enamel CNM flag pin, and an olive green notebook—each item part of the attendee welcome kit.

This same mindset carried into the welcome experience. Rather than offering branded items for the sake of promotion, we focused on creating a set of items that felt purposeful, lasting, and grounded in the tone of the event itself.

Each guest received a generously sized tote bag with rope handles and a magnetic closure—both functional and evocative of the coastal setting. Inside, a khaki beanie with an embossed leather patch and an enamel pin featuring the CNM event symbol offered warmth and a wearable connection to the brand. An olive green notebook, accented in red and filled with celestial maps, stencils, and grid pages, invited guests to capture reflections throughout their time. A white-and-gold pen paired with it, selected for its balance of elegance and simplicity.

Close-up of personalized welcome materials from The Assembly 2025. Featured items include a name badge, ribbed khaki beanie with leather patch, letterpress envelope with string tie, olive green notebook, a custom enamel pin with CNM maritime flags, a printed map, and a card that reads “chart your course.”

A letterpress kraft envelope with a nautical string tie closure housed the event essentials: an agenda, welcome card, and a property map. Each element was crafted with care, designed to be kept rather than discarded.

Two photos from The Assembly 2025 welcome materials. On the left, a printed event agenda is opened to a page highlighting a morning nature walk and wrap-up session, shown alongside a map and envelope on a wooden surface. On the right, a khaki ribbed beanie with an embossed leather patch rests on a rugged coastal rock, reflecting the Maine setting.

These weren’t off-the-shelf giveaways. They were tactile cues that extended the event’s identity—each one designed to orient guests, invite reflection, and foster a sense of belonging in unfamiliar territory.

Belonging, Built In

Two-part image from the welcome experience at The Assembly 2025. On the left, an outdoor sandwich board sign reads “WELCOME TO THE ODYSSEYS” beneath The Assembly logo. On the right, two staff members smile behind a registration desk decorated with netting, branded welcome materials, and a “Welcome Aboard” sign featuring illustrated waves.

One of the most meaningful moments came early. Guests and their registered partners each received a complete welcome package, including credentials and gifts. This simple, thoughtful gesture had an outsized impact. It transformed what could have been a passive observer role into an invitation to fully engage.

It served as a quiet reminder that inclusion often lives in the details. Design helped create a shared experience that was open, welcoming, and memorable.

Details That Invite Engagement

Two images from the lobster clambake at The Assembly 2025. On the left, a smiling guest wears a custom lobster bib featuring The Assembly logo and a lobster illustration. On the right, a tray of cooked lobster is paired with a branded wet wipe that reads “wipe your claws” alongside illustrated claws and The Assembly logo.

From custom lobster bibs to “wipe your claws” wet wipes, the event materials balanced function and personality. A consistent engraving illustration style unified every visual element. Guests frequently asked about the maritime flags printed on their credentials, with many working to decode the “CNM” symbol. This light, recurring moment of curiosity added to the shared language of the event.

Two images from an interactive session at The Assembly 2025. On the left, two attendees collaborate during a breakout activity, with a speaker presenting on stage in the background and a large engraved map backdrop behind. On the right, a close-up of a workshop board features handwritten sticky notes responding to prompts about AI concerns, showing a mix of ideas on ethics, efficiency, and bias.

Even small items like Post-it notes for a breakout activity were selected with intention. Their desaturated tones reflected the weathered palette of the Maine coast, bringing cohesion to the smallest of touchpoints.

Design with Intent

Stage design for The Assembly 2025 featuring a nautical map-inspired backdrop with the word “ODYSSEYS,” large faux boulders, and a steel podium. Right side shows two presenters on stage during a session at the Cliff House, Cape Neddick, with ambient lighting and a view of the audience.

Design extended beyond the welcome moments and gifts. The stage environment was curated with the same level of care. A custom backdrop featured an antique map of the event location sourced from the archives of the New York Public Library, paired with a sketch of a nearby lighthouse and the coordinates of our Chicago headquarters. The event’s symbol was prominently displayed at the center, creating an anchor for both in-person impact and post-event content. Two large boulders were placed on stage to bring texture and dimension while drawing a connection to the natural surroundings just outside the windows.

Slides and stage details from The Assembly 2025 in Cape Neddick, Maine. Left: Sample presentation slides with nautical-inspired designs, including one titled “The Tides of Transformation.” Right: Close-up of the event podium featuring One North’s logo, with the custom map backdrop and stage elements visible behind.

The podium was in a steel finish, a subtle reference to shipbuilding materials native to the region. Presentation slides carried the same visual language used throughout the event, providing each speaker with tools to stay cohesive while still allowing for customization.

Photographs of The Field Guide to Artificial Intelligence, created for The Assembly 2025. Left: the guide’s olive-toned cover featuring engraved illustrations of tools and artifacts. Right: an open spread explaining AI concepts through vintage-style fish illustrations and typographic layout. Set on a wooden bookshelf for a tactile, archival feel.

After one session, attendees received a 52-page Field Guide to Artificial Intelligence. Designed to resemble a classic field notebook, the guide combined archival-inspired typography, rich textured engravings, and desaturated colors with modern frameworks and forward-looking ideas. The piece echoed the theme of the event—pairing enduring design principles with relevant, future-facing content. It gave guests something to carry forward beyond the session.

Looping animation from The Assembly 2025 intermission reel, featuring subtle engraved illustrations and ambient motion inspired by the event’s nautical theme.

Even transitional moments were treated with care. During speaker breaks, a custom intermission reel played on-screen to maintain the event’s tone and pacing. Featuring ambient motion graphics, the reel sustained focus in the room without feeling overstated.

Close-up of a person holding a phone and viewing the invitation email for The Assembly 2025, featuring event details and a coastal image of the Cliff House in Maine. The email design is also partially visible on a laptop screen in the background.

That consistency began well before the event, with a well-crafted invitation and teaser campaign that set the tone and introduced the visual system.

The email campaign announcing the event was designed to spark curiosity and anticipation. With minimal copy, bold typography, and striking imagery, it introduced the visual system and linked to the event website. The design mirrored the tone of the event itself: clear, confident, and quietly bold.

Animated preview of The Assembly 2025 website, featuring horizontal scroll interaction and nautical-inspired design elements.

The event website expanded on this system. Built with a horizontal scroll layout and a rotating compass-inspired menu, the site carried through the themes of navigation and place. A restrained use of photography let the content breathe while foregrounding the event’s visual identity. Typography and color choices matched the materials guests would later encounter on-site, building cohesion across physical and digital experiences.

To preview the experience, we also created a short teaser video. Shared through email and social media, it offered a soft reveal of the location, tone, and themes to come. Cinematic in style and intentionally restrained, the teaser helped build excitement without giving too much away.

The event’s visual system was also extended to social platforms through a custom Instagram Story template. Designed to be clean, recognizable, and easy to use, it allowed our team to share moments in a way that felt visually consistent with the rest of the experience.

From stage to inbox to Instagram, every touchpoint was designed with care. Each one reinforced the event’s themes and helped bridge the digital and physical experience.

The Quiet Power of Design

No single moment carried the experience. It was the steady rhythm of small, intentional decisions—visual, material, and emotional—that shaped the feeling of the event.

For attendees, it felt seamless. For our team, it was a demonstration of how subtle design choices shape meaningful outcomes—quietly guiding guests through something unfamiliar, and helping it feel entirely their own.

Beyond the Event

A collage of candid photos from The Assembly 2025 event, showing attendees laughing, dining on lobster, walking along the Maine coastline, and connecting in relaxed moments. The images capture the warmth, camaraderie, and inclusive atmosphere of the gathering.

The Assembly is more than a gathering. It’s a living example of how design can integrate brand, experience, and environment into something greater than the sum of its parts. Whether we’re developing a physical space, a printed artifact, or a multi-day experience, our approach remains the same: make it useful, make it meaningful, and make it lasting.

We aim to bring care and clarity to every detail—because when people feel considered, they feel connected. Event experience is brand experience. And when design is done well, it doesn’t just guide people through a space. It helps them belong in it.

Michael Brown

Creative Director

As Creative Director at One North, Michael helps people clarify their problems and then dream up viable solutions, guiding them toward what’s next. Working with a team of creatives, he oversees the development and implementation of our projects to make sure every element aligns with our goals and is brought to life as intended.