The Edinburg International Festival

Edinburgh coloured yellow in august. The ticket sales increased by 12%. And 89% of people who had previously experienced Edinburgh in August thought the International Festival was more visible. The hashtag #Edintfest was used in 8,924 tweets and 1,890 Instagram posts during August. Meanwhile the hashtag #welcomeworld organically became popular as people shared their photos of Edinburgh. 

To quote @MartinoReynaldo on Twitter: “You’ve got to hand it to @edintfest They’ve nailed this year’s branding and dominate the festival city #welcomeworld”

We analysed the existing brand with the festival organisers, in a number of brand sessions. We brought the customer journey to the forefront and examined the possibilities of what we could do with the various online and offline touchpoints. 

We replaced the logo with strong word branding, which is immediately recognisable. Branding that is made more intense by the striking yellow colour against the contrasting black letters. The logo is an easy to read yet bold word mark, easy to animate to fit the digital era. The animation also introduces a nickname: The International. An authentic handwritten font creates contrast with the robust logo, but also gives a theatre group’s performance an unmistakable festival signature. 

Thus we created a new identity that communicates the whole festival as much as single performances, is less formal and more expressive. The intense yellow stands out in the public space. The handwriting reflects that quality shouldn't be stiff.

The Edinburgh International Festival was at the heart of the most important festival for performing arts in the world. Its strong reputation and rich history attracts the best artists, but the public doesn’t recognise the festival amongst the broad array of festivals on offer in the city of Edinburgh, like the Fringe. How can we ensure that people choose our festival, and not only come for the individual performances? And how can we bind people to the festival, and connect its rich history to a promising future?