KCD post by the Kubernetes Community Days Sofia organizers
Today, we’re having a conversation with Veneta Gergova, the artist behind the design and logo for KCD Sofia 2025.
What is your experience as a designer and what attracted you to projects related to technology conferences?
I am an illustrator artist by vocation and training, and I have been working as a graphic designer for the past 20 years. Experience has taught me that a good artist must also be a visionary, always keeping up with the times and even running ahead. Meanwhile, technology is an integral part of our life and our future. With that in mind, such projects will be developed more frequently and their recognizability and identity are particularly important for their success.
Do you have any previous experience with projects combining traditional cultural elements and modern technology? If so, what challenges did you encounter?
I have extensive experience with projects in various fields: from media to culture, health, and politics. I am the author of many Bulgarian and foreign trademarks, as well as advertising and awareness campaigns. I have designed a logo for a science foundation, but its work is focused on innovations in medicine. To be honest, this was my first major project in the area of technology and it was a very interesting challenge.
What was the main concept you attempted to convey with this logo?
The logo’s concept is based on the general trend for events under the CNCF umbrella. In particular, each partner emphasizes a visual characteristic of the town or country hosting the event: in Texas, the logo features a cowboy hat, in Italy – a pizza, in Shanghai and Lima – architectural monuments, in Kerala – a Buddhist symbol, and so on.
In order to maintain the trend while avoiding the literal approach taken by most international partners, I selected an embroidery pattern characteristic of Sofia that unravels into digital lines. This is our symbol of evolution, a transition from tradition and history to modern times and technology. I strived to express movement and direction while creating the impression that the embroidery is coming to life and expanding to occupy more space.
Does the colour palette of the logo have a special meaning? What do the colours symbolize?
The colour palette is always essential. In this case we kept the authentic colours of the embroidery and KCD’s blue colour to achieve coherence of the visual identity where the two logos are presented together.
In general, people subconsciously associate technological topics with the blue-purple range. Still, it was important to keep the colours of the embroidery, so that the logo is genuine and free of arbitrary, self-serving elements. These colours are very specific and in Bulgarian folklore they symbolize the following:
- Red is the colour of fertility and life.
- Green stands for health and nature.
- Yellow means light and purity.
- Blue, which dominates the trademark, is the colour of truth and the sky, symbolically corresponding to the cloud community.
How did people react when they first saw the logo? Was there any feedback that surprised you?
The feedback was very positive and inspiring. My work with the event team was extremely smooth and productive. We conceived the idea of the logo together and, with mutual trust, went on to implement it.
Are there any details in the logo that people rarely notice, but you consider important and significant?
In general, a good trademark should be absolutely straightforward, achieving the best possible result with seemingly few devices, regardless of the amount of work put into it. Our logo has nothing to hide, although it contains many details. This stems from the nature of the embroidery. The idea for the logo was to convey authority in order to emphasize the importance of the event itself.
If you had to describe the logo with just three words, which would these be?
Movement. Direction. Evolution.