Designing for momentum
When I volunteered for the Online Scrum Master Summit 2025 as part of the marketing and creative team, I didn’t just join a campaign, I approached it like I would any product. Each initiative, each visual, message, and moment was treated as a micro product in itself. Shaped by intention. Iterated with empathy. Delivered with care!
That’s the product mindset I carry into everything I do, whether it’s working on fintech platforms or contributing to non-profit tech ecosystems. At the summit, I had the opportunity to lead the visual and graphics strategy from building Canva templates for social media to helping refine the overall design narrative. But underneath the surface of colors and content lay something deeper: an attempt to tell stories that moved people.
From Semi-Abstract Canvas to Canva
Outside of my work in product, I’m a semi-abstract artist. I think in texture, shape, and color. And that shows up in how I design. When I first reviewed the summit’s existing design assets, I saw potential, but also stagnation. The visual identity needed a refresh not just to be “on-brand,” but to be emotionally resonant. Good design isn’t decoration; it’s communication.
And in a virtual summit landscape flooded with repetitive content, our visuals had to do more than look good, they had to evoke energy, signal credibility, and create continuity across touchpoints. That’s where agile thinking came in.
Agile Design is Iterative Storytelling
Agile isn’t just for developers: it’s a mindset I brought straight into the design process. As a semi-abstract artist and product thinker, I treated the Summit’s visual identity as a product, designed in iterative loops, tested across formats, and adapted quickly for clarity and cohesion.
We didn’t have the luxury of months-long planning cycles, we all had full time day jobs too. But we had something better, alignment and autonomy. There was a clear kickoff from the summit leads, some legacy brand colors, and a strong sense of community. So we got to work. Fast.
Big thanks to Jeannie Flynn and Esther Schmit for trusting me to lead the redesign. Their support let me blend art, strategy, and agile execution into a unified visual story.
Using design thinking, I broke the challenge into micro-sprints:
- Empathize: What did our community need to feel to trust us?
- Define: How could visual strategy elevate that emotional arc?
- Ideate: What colors, styles, and layouts reflected both agility and warmth?
- Prototype: I built modular Canva templates that could scale across speakers, posts, and announcements.
- Test & Iterate: We responded to feedback, tweaked layouts, and kept refining.
Every post we published was a touchpoint – not just for engagement, but for brand trust.
Micro-Products, Macro Impact
In marketing, momentum is everything. And in a global event like this, momentum comes from visual consistency, emotional clarity, and narrative rhythm. We didn’t just make graphics , we built a visual system that moved with us. Every asset, from speaker cards to social banners, was treated like a micro-product: scannable, reusable, remixable. Design became our strategic lever- not just to communicate, but to build trust and drive scale.
New color gradients signaled energy. Whitespace gave speakers room to shine. Modular Canva templates enabled async teamwork across time zones. And that quiet confidence? It helped land Scrum.org as our crown sponsor.
Because good design doesn’t shout. It signals clearly, consistently, and across every frame.
Skill-Based Volunteering That Grows You
I believe deeply in the power of skill-based philanthropy. When you bring your best thinking, your product mindset, your creative skillset – to a volunteer role, you don’t just give back. You grow forward. You sharpen your practice in unfamiliar terrains. You meet people outside your bubble. You reconnect with purpose.
This summit was more than a marketing gig. It was a living lab for design-led thinking, agile execution, and value-aligned leadership.
And that’s the magic of product thinking: you don’t need a massive launch to make an impact. You just need to start with empathy, design with care, and ship with heart.
Finally a shoutout to all our volunteers of this summit who worked tirelessly to make this a grand success.
Sanghamitra Paul is a product leader, semi-abstract artist, and a design thinker.
She also serves as Chapter Co-Lead for Women in Product New Jersey and partners with various other non profits to devote her time for skill based volunteering. She brings a design-centric lens to all her work, whether it’s building loan acquisition platforms or visual campaigns for community-led events.
Images are from BlueHost and Wordcamp marketing event in New Delhi, India in March 2025
