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June 12, 2024

Apple’s 2024 WWDC Promos Are a Case Study in Minimalism & Cohesion

The annual conference is a highlight for Apple users, and each year brings new branded gifts like bags, pins and printed products.

By  Brendan Menapace

Taking place this week, Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC to its friends) is a highlight in the tech world. It was famous for Steve Jobs’ famous “One more thing” showstoppers, and is still the must-see event for all Apple fans. This year’s highlights include adding the calculator app to the iPad – which I frankly didn’t know wasn’t already in place – and new operating system updates.

For the attendees, the highlights also include exclusive Apple-branded merch, which of course come in sleek packaging, as Apple is, if nothing else, a genius when it comes to that sort of thing.

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference

Think about it: A lot of the early appeal to things like the iMac, iPods and beyond had to do with their hip minimalism and tasteful use of color. Until recently, the packaging for new products was famous for its stickers and cool unboxing experience.

Thanks to people sharing on social media, we have a look at what attendees left this conference with, including tote bags, water bottles, enamel pins and more.

Last year’s event also included enamel pins, which played off of Apple’s old rainbow motif, like the “spinning wheel of death” loading icon; an iPod, which is now no longer in production (RIP); and a melting-face emoji icon.

This year’s pins use the dragon-face “Memoji,” the colorful throwback “Apple” script, the new Apple Vision Pro goggles and a stylized “2024.” There’s also an old-school Mac computer, replacing the iPod as the antiquated Apple product du jour. All of the pins come in fold-out black packaging that looks like it would house a high-end tech product, or at least something with a fancy screen. It seems like a lot for enamel pins, but when the goal is a high perceived value and luxury experience, it’s what the occasion calls for.

Despite the colorful rainbows and Apple scripts, the company once again used the minimal black-and-white – or even black-on-black – color palettes for the bags, water bottles and packaging.

The tote bag is black with a white combined W logo that Apple uses for the conference; it says “Worldwide Developers Conference 2024” in white on the bottom. One of the standout products is a picnic blanket, which comes in a cinch-top bag with the conference logo in a black-on-black print.

The water bottle uses the WWDC logo in white, matching the tote bag and sort of mirroring last year’s model. But, if I know tech folks like I think I do, having “2023” when a 2024 version exists would kill them.

Even the functional pieces like parking permits and name badges feature similar branding and feel like part of a larger overall collectibles kit.

Though it’s not for attendees to take home, one of the stand-out print products is a piece of signage in the grass on campus, which is made to look like the WWDC 24 letters are popping out. Each letter has a colorful border to look like the new Siri animation, which produces a colorful border animation around the iPhone screen.

Apple has always taken its branding aesthetic into account, positioning it alongside the tech as equal parts of its vision. Each of its promotional products represent the actual tech products that it sells, and it all is part of a larger branded ecosystem. Each piece down, to the packaging for a pin, is painstakingly detailed and considered, and in my view, can serve as a source of merch inspiration for print and promo pros.

Brendan Menapace

Content Director, Print & Promo Marketing

Brendan is the content director for ASI's Print & Promo Marketing media brand, which brings together the promotional products, apparel, commercial print and product decoration industries. His coverage includes in-depth company and personal profiles, trend pieces, and multimedia content.