Geeks On A Beach

Geeks On A Beach (GOAB) is a tech conference that first took place in 2013 on Boracay Island, Philippines.

GOAB a place of dialogue for people that care about tomorrow. It’s an exchange-of-ideas conference that discusses some of today’s pressing topics set along the shores of some of the most beautiful beaches in the world – serious conversations in a relaxed atmosphere.

Initially organized annually, GOAB had to take a break after the 2017 event, but will return in November 2023 for its sixth incarnation, hosting “more than 500 entrepreneurs, investors, innovators and global leaders in tech, startup, and design for an event filled with insightful conversations and opportunities to build up on the things that are important, set in a world-class beach resort in the Philippines.”

Since the beginning, the event’s visual identity by Happy Garaje is centered around Swung Note. Released in 2010, this font by PintassilgoPrints from Florianópolis, Brazil, is packed with hundreds of interlocking pairs, referencing a lettering style that became popular in the 1960s and is often associated with surf culture, among other things.

The graphics for the inaugural event additionally featured another PintassilgoPrints release with such smart interlocking caps: Sundowners (2012) is lighter and narrower than Swung Note. Co-designer Erica Jung says that its design was inspired by the album cover for The Lightning Fingers Of Roy Clark from 1963 – which uses a typeface recently identified by Josh Korwin as Safari.

Over the years, GOAB employed a range of secondary fonts including Underware’s Bello Caps (in 2013) and Holis Majid’s Rockinsoda (in 2023).