Why did FBIF's signature exclamation mark suddenly become sparkling?

How did the lively yet elegant sub-forum icons integrate the exclamation mark into the illustrations?

What do the golden stripes of the main visual background and the colorful pop design of the exhibition area represent in terms of event style?

Greetings, everyone!

I am i-Pal, the chief mascot of FBIF and the embodiment of FBIF's spirit. In 2018, I was born from a brilliant idea by the global design agency BETC: by turning the "i" in FB!F upside down, it became an exclamation mark, symbolizing our ultimate pursuit of astonishing innovation! Hence, friends affectionately call me "i-Pal."

Many industry fans have grown up with FBIF: from a small forum with 250 attendees in its first year in 2014 to nearly 30,000 attendees in 2023; from small seminars focused on scattered innovation topics to an industry innovation event with 11 thematic sub-forums and participation from over 5,580 companies.

Audience Growth of FBIF Over the Years

As FBIF continues to grow, the events have become more diverse. Many friends have suggested, "Is there a way to more intuitively showcase all of FBIF's charm?" Therefore, on the occasion of FBIF's 10th anniversary, to provide a more intuitive and memorable presentation of FBIF's event features, we have undertaken a comprehensive brand upgrade!

Now, let i-Pal guide you through our upgraded visuals and see the unique features of the evolved FBIF!

1.Brand VI, Comprehensive Upgrade!

Speaking of this brand upgrade, I must mention my good partner, Wow-Pal—a cute little character who can't help but say "Wow" to innovative works!

Wow-Pal is the soul of FBIF's innovation award brand, the Wow Food Awards, created by the renowned Thai design agency Prompt Design. After the event upgrade, the lively, adventurous foodie Wow-Pal has received unanimous praise from fans.

You may not have heard of Prompt Design, but their creativity will surely amaze you.

Image Source: Prompt Design

For instance, the above designs—sugarcane juice packaging that makes you feel like you are in a bamboo forest, mineral water packaging that feels as free as little animals vacationing on a beach, or packaging that uses the "mushroom" itself to hold mushroom ingredient health products—all come from Prompt Design.

Bold creativity, yet not unreasonable; it feels just right but also surprising. Isn't this what we pursue? Therefore, we entrusted Prompt Design with the overall brand visual upgrade of FBIF.

Over the 10 years of growth, FBIF has expanded into two major modules: the "FBIF Food & Beverage Innovation Forum" and the "FBIF Food Innovation Expo," which are interrelated yet distinctive. The forum focuses more on in-depth industry innovation issues, requiring a greater emphasis on professionalism; while the food innovation exhibition is more diverse, full of creativity and vitality.

Based on categories and industry roles, we gradually expanded into five major innovation sub-forums: Dairy, Snacks & Baking, Beverages, Alcohol, Condiments & 3R Foods, and six industry innovation sub-forums: Functional & Ingredients, Channel, Packaging, Marketing, Technology, and Start-ups.

As the number of sub-forums increased to 11, color coordination became a challenge. Last year's brand VI was colorful and vibrant but lacked the depth to explore profound issues; more importantly, each sub-forum, when viewed alone, lacked a soulful connection with FBIF.

FBIF 2023 Visual System

Therefore, Prompt Design integrated the "soul" of FBIF, i-Pal, into each sub-forum.

FBIF 2024 Visual System (Can you find my presence in the logos of each sub-forum?)

In Dairy, I transformed into a straw that draws inspiration; in Condiments, I became a seasoning for culinary innovation; in Packaging, I was the surprise when opening a box; in Technology, I was the robotic arm picking "future apples"… Each sub-forum's brand color was carefully selected, and each theme logo had its unique meaning, allowing everyone to easily identify and remember the distinctive content of each sub-forum.

(Sliding Image of Sub-forum Illustrations)

Innovation is everywhere, and i-Pal also shuttles through various sub-forums, inspiring new creative ideas in different forms.

Notably, during i-Pal's integration with each theme, FBIF's new brand asset—the line element—emerged. With the clever addition of lines, we not only endowed the forums and exhibition areas with their unique characteristics and connections but also opened up various possibilities for future changes.

Next, let's see how the themes of FBIF 2024's forums and exhibition areas present this connection!

2.FBIF 2024 Forum Theme Design: Unbox the Future!

The theme of FBIF 2024 is "Unbox the Future."

Have you seen the scene in a sci-fi movie where the protagonist opens a portal through time and space? The future is full of unknowns and uncertainties, yet it is so glittering and exciting! Prompt Design's design cleverly integrates me with the future portal, conveying the message that at the current FBIF event, you are standing at the doorway to the future; around you, golden speed lines shuttle, taking us towards the future.

How was this creative idea born?

In fact, the most challenging part of this brief was to creatively interpret it on the existing FBIF brand assets, increase the connection with food consumption, and emphasize keywords such as "future," "disruption," and "innovation."

Prompt Design's first two concept designs were good, but something was missing.

What was missing?

Food consumption is a lively and warm industry closely related to people's livelihood. In the information age, more and more brand designs are becoming flat to adapt to more digital media and mobile touchpoints; but we still believe that food brings a more three-dimensional and warm feeling to people.

Delicious food brings both taste and psychological satisfaction and pleasure; further expanding and optimizing this experience to more people is the original intention of innovation in the food and beverage industry. Some say that with the development of food technology, there will be more so-called "tech and harshness（科技与狠活）" - which means the product is far from natural with a lot of additives; while we believe that even if people start eating lab-produced "new food" in the future, it will not be cold "energy blocks" but healthier and more delicious.

Therefore, we choose to light up the future!

In any category or theme, innovation opportunities can be found here. On FBIF's stage, we are all speeding towards this door of light to the future—this is the message FBIF hopes to convey to the food industry.

Standing in the present, how can we "Unbox the Future"? We invited Pufine Design to optimize the theme font design for FBIF 2024.

The combination of blue-black background and gold reminds people of lightning piercing through the night sky. So, we borrowed the powerful "lightning" element to break through the internal roll and launch upward innovation—"Unbox the Future," appearing in such a stunning form.

Pufine's Creative Director Zhang Yanhui describes the creation process:

"The theme of 'Unbox the Future' reminds us of the chaotic and internally rolled state the market has shown in recent years. Therefore, we want to condense a force through innovation, like lightning splitting the market's haze. In this, innovation can make the market more vibrant and bring upward strength. Therefore, the overall design and font details strive to present an aspect that matches this concept."

3.FBIF 2024 Food Innovation Exhibition: Super Fun Immersive Experience!

On the other hand, how does i-Pal combine with the line elements in the fun, colorful, young, and vibrant FBIF Food Innovation Expo to reflect the theme in another way?

Here, the lines coil around in circles, forming the shape of rings:

The exclamation mark, rings, and food elements overlap to create the following new visual:

Inspired by geographic contour lines, the lines thicken layer by layer from the center, presenting a three-dimensional dynamic visual effect.

Then, these lines are endowed with colorful colors! Entering the FBIF Food Innovation Expo is like stepping through a magical door, allowing you to experience a vibrant array of creativity and products.

To make the exhibition area design more site-specific, Prompt Design's team also came to Shanghai to conduct an on-site inspection at the National Exhibition and Convention Center, where the FBIF 2024 Food Innovation Expo will be held, to create a super immersive viewing experience for the audience!

At the FBIF 2024 Food Innovation Expo, you might see an entrance like this:

And fruit banners like this (of course, you can find i-Pal's presence everywhere):

And the highlights of each year's exhibition area—the four major themed activity zones created by FBIF, now with their own brand visuals, making their debut! They are:

Bold Open Mic!A stage where you can speak freely—Foodtalks Salon;

Handshake Deal!A platform that helps brands and channels connect one-stop—Foodtalks Channel Matchmaking Space;

Wave Your Paintbrush!Drawing inspiration from around the world, design the most creative packaging in your mind—FBIF Global Creative Packaging Design Collection;

Satisfy Curiosity!A collection of novel and delicious food products from around the world—FBIF Global New Food Collection.

More exciting content awaits you to explore on-site with i-Pal!

Do you like the new visual of FBIF? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments!