Case study · 2026–2027

UFC GYM Convention 2027 — Event Brand & Platform

Event identity, illustration system, and campaign comms for UFC GYM’s global franchise convention — plus the Next.js and Postgres registration platform it runs on.

Role: Director of Brand Marketing · Creative Director · Front-End Developer
Client: UFC GYM Global Franchise Convention
Medium: Event Brand · Illustration · Email · Video · Web Product
Date: 2026–2027

Challenge

UFC GYM's global franchise convention has to sell itself to the people who run the network — domestic and international owners deciding whether to spend three days in Las Vegas in February instead of in their clubs. It needed an identity distinct from the parent brand without drifting from it, and it needed somewhere to actually put a registration: invite-gated, group-aware, self-service, and live months before the agenda was locked.

Approach

Directed the event brand and the front-end of the web platform. The identity is a three-lockup system — stacked, horizontal, and a globe badge — sitting on a custom illustration motif drawn from Vegas and fight iconography: slot reels, playing cards, gloves, kettlebells, Built Different, in four colorways so the same pattern carries a black email and a white registration page. Campaign comms followed — save-the-date, registration reminder, a WhatsApp invite for international owners. The registration site is a Next.js and Postgres build: invite-code gating, a group roster up to ten, passwordless magic-link sign-in, self-service editing, and an allowlisted organizer view.

Outcome

Registration opened well ahead of the February 2027 dates at Fontainebleau Las Vegas, with the identity, the comms sequence, and the platform all shipping from one hand. The motif library extends to signage, decks, and swag without another illustration pass, and the site runs end to end with no credentials configured, so the next convention starts from a working platform instead of a vendor quote.

Supporting work

UFC GYM Convention 2027 identity — The convention badge on its own illustration field — distinct from the parent brand without drifting from it.

Three lockups — stacked, horizontal, and a globe badge — in reversed and positive colorways.

UFC GYM Convention 2027 illustration motifs — A custom motif drawn from Vegas and fight iconography, in four colorways so one pattern carries every surface.

UFC GYM Convention 2027 campaign communications — Save-the-date, registration reminder, and a WhatsApp invite built for international owners.

UFC GYM Convention 2027 registration site — Landing page, invite-code gate, and passwordless sign-in — Next.js, Postgres, and Drizzle.

UFC GYM Convention 2027 responsive build — The same system at phone width, where most owners will actually register.