NWO Synergy in 2021 was different from other years. Synergy is an annual event of the Dutch Research Council (NWO). In 2021, due to the COVID19 pandemic, it was held completely online. I previously designed the Synergy Brand Identity. This year only the main image and some brand expressions. The challenge was no less.

NWO Social Sciences and Humanities

Three domains
NWO serves science from three domains. Exact and Natural Sciences (ENW), Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) and Technical and Applied Sciences (AES). Each domain organises one or more meetings every year for the supporters of researchers and other stakeholders. The Synergy conference is the annual meeting of SSH.

Connection and collaboration between stakeholders
The NWO Synergy conference is a one-day event. It was first organized in 2017. Then the name Synergy was immediately taken into use. The choice of this name symbolizes one of the most important objectives of the day: to strengthen the connection and collaboration between researchers and other stakeholders, across the full width of the social sciences and humanities.

NWO Synergy 2021 - 'Future Societies'

Matching main picture
NWO Synergy 2021 took place online this year, on Thursday 4 February. Each year a different theme is used to shape the content of the event. Previously it was 'Changing Societies'.

To visually support the year theme, a different illustration / main image is also designed every year. This illustration communicates the current theme, ensures recognition and brand experience and is used in all kinds of communication expressions.

Target
An important objective for NWO in this edition was to maintain the built-up brand awareness of Synergy. It was also necessary to arouse as much interest as possible among the target groups to participate in the event.

Resources
In order to achieve that goal, NWO-SHW mainly wanted to use online means of communication this year. This communication served to connect the various 'ingredients' of Synergy 2021. And to enable NWO to communicate effectively with the target group from mid-November ’20 to mid-March ’21.