Plaid Money 20/20

In early 2019, Plaid was ready to expand to Europe. To build our brand presence in a new market, we wanted to make a big splash at Money 20/20 in Amsterdam — one of the biggest events in fintech. The goals were threefold: create a memorable, elevated experience reflecting Plaid’s commitment to quality; generate leads without feeling like a lead gen event; and translate our (then-new) visual identity into three dimensions, establishing a reusable event toolkit in the process.

As lead designer, I explored two directions. The first leaned into Plaid’s brand personality traits — Bright, Aware, Tenacious, Supportive — using unexpected splashes of color and three-dimensional building blocks to feel inspiring and imply interactivity. The second took a warmer, more inviting angle: greenery to imply growth, natural materials like wood and leather, and cozier lounge areas built for easy conversation. We landed, predictably, on a combination of both.

Over two months, I worked closely with our fabricator on the ground in Amsterdam — reviewing weekly 3D renderings, providing feedback, and adjusting details to make sure the buildout met our standards. Coordinating across time zones with vendors while managing stakeholder alignment internally made this as much a production challenge as a design one.

The booth drove 8,000+ impressions and 209 MQLs, reaching a key audience of executives and decision-makers at European fintechs. Qualitative feedback was strong — at least two competitors were spotted taking pictures of the space. On the design side, we came away with a concrete new chapter of event guidelines, upgrading what had previously been more hypothetical specifications into real, reusable standards.