GCoM: 2026 Innovate4Cities Conference
A visual communications system for a global climate summit
Client: Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy
Event: Innovate4Cities 2026, Nairobi
Services: Visual storytelling, motion design, event graphics, presentation design, social content system
Our role was to help make a complex summit easier to follow. We took interconnected themes across climate, finance, governance, infrastructure and justice, and shaped them into a visual system that gave the event structure, clarity and momentum.
The 2026 Innovate4Cities Conference brought together city and local government leaders, academics, civil society, and businesses in Nairobi to explore how climate ambition can become practical action.
Oakbeam was commissioned to create a cohesive visual communications system for the summit, spanning live event graphics, plenary visuals, keynote support, social assets, and opening and closing films.
The aim was to do more than make the summit look consistent. The work needed to help people follow the structure of the event, understand how different themes connected, and feel the human purpose behind the discussions.
For a summit focused on climate action in cities, that emotional connection mattered. The visual system was designed to give the event structure, atmosphere and continuity across three days of discussion and collaboration, with the closing film acting as a quieter reflective bookend to the summit journey.
The challenge.
International conferences can easily feel fragmented. Different themes, speakers, sessions and formats compete for attention, while the wider story of the event can become harder to follow.
For I4C26, the challenge was to create a system that could organise complex content, support live delivery, work across multiple formats and feel rooted in Nairobi.
The work needed to be visually distinctive, but also practical: flexible enough for live event use, adaptable for social content, and clear enough to support a busy team working under real delivery pressure.
The approach.
Oakbeam developed a modular visual language that could stretch across the full summit experience.
Drawing on the summit identity, commissioned artwork and references to Nairobi, the system used city forms, sun motifs, silhouettes, pattern blocks and animated transitions to connect the event across screens, slides and social content.
This allowed each part of the summit to feel connected, while still giving individual themes and sessions their own visual character.
From identity to experience.
A modular motion system designed to connect live event, presentation and social content across the conference.
Plenary storytelling.
Each plenary theme was given its own visual treatment while remaining part of the wider conference system.
The aim was not simply to illustrate session titles, but to express the meaning behind each theme, from governance and finance to housing, justice, digitalisation and community participation.
The result was a set of thematic visuals that helped give structure and identity to the programme, while keeping the conference visually coherent.
Live event and social system.
The work needed to function in a live environment, where clarity, flexibility and reliability were essential.
Rather than treating the live event and social outputs as separate pieces, the visual language was built to move between formats. The same design principles could support the stage, the decks, the daily content and the wider story being shared beyond the room.
That meant the conference could feel coherent not only as a live experience, but as an ongoing communications moment during and after the event.
From toolkit to daily story.
The social assets were designed as flexible building blocks rather than a fixed set of posts. Each format could be combined with photography, video, quotes and key messages from the conference, allowing the team to create daily content that felt varied, timely and visually consistent.
The example below shows the toolkit in use across one of the conference’s daily social videos.
Creating an emotional arc.
The opening film welcomed participants into the event and established a sense of place and momentum.
The closing film was designed as a quieter final moment: a chance to pause, reflect and leave Nairobi with a sense of continuity, rather than simply ending on a functional slide.
Designed not only to close the event, but to give the conference a final moment of reflection, warmth and continuity.
Outcome.
The final system brought together motion design, illustration, presentation support and social content into one coherent visual experience.
Across the conference, the work helped make complex themes more navigable, gave the event a strong sense of place, and connected the live programme with the communications surrounding it.
For Oakbeam, I4C26 is a clear example of our work at the intersection of narrative, design and complex global issues: helping organisations communicate with clarity, structure and emotional depth.
“Oakbeam generated a deep emotional connection through the Innovate4Cities story. Especially during the final animation sequence to close the conference: goosebumps.”
— Benjamin Jance IV
Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy