The Challenge: The Two-Building Problem
Emerald City Comic Con draws 100,000 fans to an event spanning 10 floors across two distinct buildings – Arch and Summit. In 2024, attendee satisfaction dipped, with complaints citing the confusion of navigating between venues as a top detractor. ReedPop needed a solution to stop the decline. We reinvented the flat 2D layouts using a spatial 3D approach designed to bridge the gap and bring intuitive verticality to a complex venue.
11%
reduction
Total reported issues fell significantly, signaling a smoother overall event experience.
92%
reduction
Navigation between buildings went from a top detractor to a non-issue, effectively solving the "Two-Building Problem."
Return
to Growth
Halted a previous 7% decline in satisfaction, stabilizing the attendee experience and returning to positive year-over-year growth.
Brand
reputation
Increased attractiveness for partners looking to be included or called out on the show map.
Application
The map needed to be legible everywhere – from a 6-inch phone screen to a 6-foot vertical monolith. The shift to a 3D cascading layout was critical for the Summit building, allowing us to stack 6 distinct levels in a single view. This added dimensionality offered a sense of space that 2D flat-lays couldn’t capture, performing wonderfully on large format signage while remaining pinch-and-zoom friendly on mobile.
Building Identity & Navigation
To support the user in navigation, I leveraged the building’s existing physical landmarks. The Pine Staircase brings warmth and scale to the space, creating an iconic reference point across floors. Similarly, the Entrance sculpture acts as a distinct cue for arrival.
Design for Change
By decoupling the 3D structural render from the vector-based wayfinding data, I created a file system that is built for change. This approach allows for rapid text updates and ensures that the complex 3D assets remain a clean, reusable foundation for future years, leveraging the rendering power of 3D for the visual, and the precision of vector tools for the information.
