AI Masterclass 2026
Summary
Brand design for the 2026 edition of AI Masterclass, a Zendesk pipeline program. With two other designers, I evolved the established 2025 direction into a two track system that a freelance team produced against.
Services
Branding
Art Direction
Year
2026
Timeline
Q2 2026
Tools
Figma, After Effects, Asana
Team
Francisco Loreto (Brand Designer), Diogo Ferreira (Lead Designer), Alejandra Salas (Senior Brand Designer), Eva Gómez (Motion Designer), with a freelance production team
Context
AI Masterclass is a multi step Zendesk program: one regional registration, a short on demand keynote, and live lab tracks. The 2025 edition set the visual direction. For 2026 the program split into two tracks, CX and IT, and the identity had to grow with it without losing what people already recognized.
Insights
Splitting a brand into tracks is where systems usually fall apart. The fix is to decide upfront what stays fixed and what is allowed to vary, then hold that line.
The Problem
The 2025 direction was working and could not be thrown out. It also was not built for two parallel tracks. We had to keep it recognizable while giving CX and IT their own space, and hand the whole thing to freelancers who had not seen the original.
The Solution
Working with lead designer Diogo Ferreira and senior brand designer Alejandra Salas, I helped evolve the 2025 concept into a two track system and build it into a usable kit: logo lockup, typography, a shared color base with CX and IT accents, speaker treatment, session templates per track, event confirmation, and email templates. It was built to be handed off, so freelancers could produce at volume and stay on brand.
The Outcome
One coherent identity across the full program, recognizably continuous with 2025 and clear about which track you are in, produced by a distributed freelance team from a single kit.
