ADC Awards
ADC Annual Awards is the oldest continuously running industry award show in the world, with an incredible legacy of over 100 years. These awards celebrate the very best in advertising, digital media, graphic and publication design, packaging and product design, motion, experiential and spatial design, photography, illustration and fashion design – all with a focus on artistry and craftsmanship.
Category
Branding / Branding Systems / Identities - Integrated
Annual ID
ADC105_BCD025B
Background
TEDxPetalingStreet enters its eleventh year as Malaysia’s first Chinese-language TEDx platform devoted to ignite ideas worth spreading through compelling, community-driven talks. After marking a decade-long milestone, the brand arrived at a turning point that required both reflection and renewal. The challenge was to honour a decade of breakthroughs while signalling a more sustainable and forward-looking future.
For its 2025 annual event, TEDxPetalingStreet introduced the theme “GRIT”. The theme reflects perseverance, resilience, and the discipline required to shape meaningful outcomes over time. It becomes the conceptual anchor framing the brand as a place where ideas are not only shared, but strengthened through setbacks, sustained effort, and a commitment to pushing the community forward with positivity and everlasting creativity.
For its 2025 annual event, TEDxPetalingStreet introduced the theme “GRIT”. The theme reflects perseverance, resilience, and the discipline required to shape meaningful outcomes over time. It becomes the conceptual anchor framing the brand as a place where ideas are not only shared, but strengthened through setbacks, sustained effort, and a commitment to pushing the community forward with positivity and everlasting creativity.
Creative Idea
Inspired by the Chinese notion of “riding the wind and breaking the waves”, the visuals express progress through resistance rather than smooth or linear success. The theme of “GRIT” is translated into a visual system of crooked curves and distorted lines that appear to strain, collide, and push forward against invisible forces. Grounded in TEDx red, the warped lines and wind-shaped distortions reflect the pressures of society and time that continuously reshape identity and belief, communicates that growth is not immediate. These forms are rendered in vibrant and glaring colours, through repeated deformation and reformation, symbolising the journey from raw beginnings to clarity and optimistic results.
Insights & Strategy
Red is employed not only as the brand identifier, but also as an emotional signal of intensity, focus, and determination. It reflects the experience of standing on a TEDx red dot carpet on stage with an idea that demands attention and courage. The gnarled imagery mirrors how speakers on stage share not only solutions, but the difficult paths taken to reach them.
The strategic approach was to embed this emotional territory consistently across all touchpoints. With this the essence of “GRIT” becomes immediately recognizable, it prepares audiences for talks about ideas shaped by challenge and transformed through resilience.
Execution
The system is applied across posters, social media assets, event publications, and on-stage motion graphics, forming a unified visual language for the event.
Before the talks begin, animated visuals are presented on stage. Through motion, the bright colours that emerge through transformation are further amplified, reinforcing the sense of pressure giving way to clarity. This visual theme is carried consistently through event previews, promotional materials, and the physical venue, creating a cohesive experience that reinforces the theme from the audience’s first point of contact to the live stage experience.
Before the talks begin, animated visuals are presented on stage. Through motion, the bright colours that emerge through transformation are further amplified, reinforcing the sense of pressure giving way to clarity. This visual theme is carried consistently through event previews, promotional materials, and the physical venue, creating a cohesive experience that reinforces the theme from the audience’s first point of contact to the live stage experience.
Results
The “GRIT” visual language delivers an immediate and emotional understanding of the theme, making the event experience more memorable across both physical and digital touchpoints. Through clear and intentional visual expression, TEDxPetalingStreet is reinforced as a platform where ideas are continuously challenged, reshaped, and pushed toward new possibilities.
2026 Awards
Total Points: 9
Bronze Cube
Credits
Design Firm
STUDIO KEKFENG / kuala lumpur
Production Company
NetsEco / Selangor
Post Production Company
Sengkit Picture / Kuala Lumpur
Creative Director
Kekfeng Lee
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