June 2, 2020
We were heartbroken when COVID-19 put an end to Apple’s in-person WWDC event. The digital format has excellent production value, and actually conveys even more information, but the feeling of community isn’t the same.
To try and rebuild some piece of that community, we attempted to recreate one of the most cherished WWDC traditions. The hunt for commemorative enamel pins all over the WWDC venue.
“Where did you get that pin??” was constant part of the water cooler conversation at the event. Some pins were given to every attendee. Some were awarded for participating in fitness challenges. It was different every time, and people were obsessed.
Even though we wanted to create community driven events, we knew that there was only so much that two people can do. So instead we started with what we did know: capturing the WWDC memes and turning them into pins.
Our written brainstorming quickly turned into concept sketches. Shopping the ideas around to the broader community, it was clear that some of the ideas resonated and some didn’t. When it was finished, We landed on seven designs that had the broadest appeal without sacrificing the spirit of the project.
We always planned on making it a Kickstarter. We didn’t expect the overwhelming reception.
The story got picked up by CNBC, 9to5 Mac, Daring Fireball, and others. On Kickstarter the press attention turned into real backers. 662 backers order 900+ sets of pins. We were shocked to say the least.
It literally took years to close out the campaign. Lost packages, customs, new VAT taxes, and seemingly every delivery obstacle imaginable came up. We took every reasonable effort to ship pins all over the world, and at the end of the day accomplished more than we ever thought we could.
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Tell us about that project you’ve been dying to get off the ground. Physical, digital, or something else entirely, we want to know how we can help bring your vision to life.