Behind the scenes at the Outliers Builders Summit 2025: designing experiences that matter

Posted 1 month ago in brand identity, design chat, event design, print

A long, welcoming avenue lined with highly scented fig, orange and mulberry trees. A barista preparing perfectly pale green-graduated matcha lattes. A meltingly tender wagyu sandwich. An evening of electronic music and fascinating conversation. I think it’s safe to say that the Outliers Builders Summit 2025 in the heart of Riyadh was no ordinary VC event.

It was a day crammed with a compelling and fascinating programme of talks, conversations and interactive events hosted by leading lights of what I can only describe as the ‘creative VC community.’ This diverse group of luminaries was drawn together in one place in Saudi Arabia to share ideas and experiences so exciting I kept having to hold myself back from joining in with their brilliant debates.

But then, I should have known that anything Outliers do was always going to surprise and delight. From the branding and web design project we completed for them earlier this year to shaping the look and feel of every aspect of this extraordinary event, memorable and determinedly distinctive experiences are at the core of their approach to everything. Our work for the event now sits proudly in the portfolio of design work completed by the studio across the Middle East.

Day 1: On-site with the team, observing months of work come to life

From the minute I arrived at the Al Mashtal cultural centre in the diplomatic quarter of Riyadh, I could tell it was completely perfect for this event. A completely unique space based within a reimagined former primary school, the concrete structure is divided into a series of welcoming airy spaces. Considering I was in a country far from home, having never visited Saudi Arabia before, my first impression was of a homely and inviting place.

Something I found deeply touching was the warm welcome from everyone on the team. We’d worked so closely on every aspect of the event for months, with us collaborating between Outliers event manager Kenzie Falcoz and Shams Otair from event production company NightOwl, who was co-ordinating production. Walking into that room and hearing everyone just as excited to see me, arriving all the way from London, as I felt being there, was nothing short of thrilling.

On that Sunday in Riyadh, the Outliers team and I gradually saw the space transform from this cultural event space for hire into the physical shape of the summit. Perhaps one reason why it felt so familiar was that we’d spent so long thinking about, then designing this experience as a project from a distance at our studio. Seeing the construction team apply all the graphics across the suspended totems, graphic cubes, the enormous stage backdrop and the 3D graphic backdrop, the work came to life with a feeling that was all encompassing and visceral.

Day 2: The Outliers Builders Summit day

The summit day itself seemed to go by either extremely slowly or incredibly fast, depending at which stage of the program I spoke to Kenzie, Mo and Sarah, who had organised it, or the team from NightOwl who had taken our artwork and organised print production. With the event beginning at ten, I was there well ahead of time walking through the space, experiencing it as a visitor would, trying to think of the small details that would make an impact and whether I could help the team improve anything. In the end, I found myself using glass cleaner on the branded mirrors to remove the last of the installers’ fingerprints. What can I say, sometimes the little things matter!

I am so happy to say the entire event went off without a hitch. It had a natural flow, beginning with the formal opening remarks from His Excellency Dr. Munir Eldesouki, President of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, to a packed seminar floor, hanging on every word of this Saudi visionary. Other sessions I was really impressed by included the rapid-fire, interactive workshops of professional coach Edward Sullivan, or a personal favourite of mine, investor and creative (and inventor of the hijab emoji) Rayouf Alhumedhi, who spoke passionately about a subject very dear to my heart, the importance of human creativity in the era of AI. I particularly enjoyed the interactive voting on whether our impression of the topic had changed from the beginning to the end of the session. It was no surprise that Rayouf won her argument around the importance of human autonomy and creative spirit.

I felt very fortunate to be there in the first place, something I know rang true for many of the passionate, deeply-engaged people from the founders community around me. As the day wrapped up, the bustle of the formalities of the summit day gave way to an actual Arabian night, with something else I hadn’t expected: a soundtrack of propulsive beats, delivered to a vibrant, post-event crowd.

Day 3: Bonjour Saudi: experiencing the best Riyadh has to offer

With the formal summit day on Monday behind us, the day after was billed as more of an exploration of Riyadh and having ‘the real Saudi experience.’ We spent a little time at the Outliers office in the morning with a fascinating group of their founders, talking about what they were achieving and exchanging our impressions and experiences from the day before. Many people had admired the design work at the summit, so it was a real point of pride to explain our involvement and the connection between the website design we’d worked on and the journey from digital to a full suite of physical designed assets at the event.

I’ve added a few photos from our journey to walk from the sand-coloured beauty of At-Turaif World Heritage Site, the ancient heart of Riyadh, through the bustling, vibrant café society of the city to modern art museum Diriyah Art Futures. There’s no escaping that the Saudi Arabia of 2025 is a breathtaking mix of centuries of tradition and the strikingly modern.

The day culminated with Saudi coffee and dates, followed by dinner in the courtyard of Samhania, a traditional mud house. Later, we sat on the rooftop, with traditional pancakes and pomegranate molasses alongside mint and saffron tea. The lively conversation between even more of the incredible people who had traveled from across the world to be involved in the summit continued into the night, bringing an extraordinary experience to a close.

My take on the Outliers Builders Summit 2025

Before I arrived in Riyadh, I hadn’t imagined the event and visit to this remarkable country having such a deep impact on me. I’ve always tried to be professional and on occasion dispassionate about design work. The things we do sometimes appear so briefly, or concepts we work on can change so quickly. As a result, getting attached to clients or our work isn’t normally part of the job. This one felt very different, personal even. We spent so long thinking about, then shaping the experience of the Outliers Builders Summit 2025, so I was probably always going to feel excited about what we’d done and its impact in a tangible way. Yet this one went further. The reality of the depth of feeling of the people there, with their common spirit of innovation and trying to see past boundaries left me with a new perspective on the difference our work can make to make good things happen, just a little better.