Background

Publicising a new event – one that didn’t exist before – can sometimes be tricky. There are no images of it, because, well, it hasn’t happened yet. It can all be a bit ‘chicken and egg’. How do you engage and enthuse your potential audience of its vibrancy, energy and fun without showing the exciting pictures? That was the challenge faced by First Art when they devised ‘Bolsover Stories’ – a weekend festival celebrating the stories of Bolsover town in Derbyshire – when they asked TruthStudio to design and create an identity for it.

Our creative approach

We have a secret weapon. It just so happens that one of our superpowers– and our passion – is typography. And, with this brand new event being about storytelling through specially commissioned, community arts events, such as outdoor theatre and poetry workshops, it was just our type.

The event title spoke to us immediately and we recognised the creative potential in the words – particularly the two letter ‘O’s. Like open mouths, they were crying out to be at the heart of a unique, distinctive, and memorable typographic led idea! We developed a dynamic typographic combination for the event title which we applied across all the aspects of the festival – Performances, Workshops, Movies, Poetry and Community Activities. This distinctive and flexible identity was then expanded and implemented across all visual collateral we designed for the event – from publicity posters and banners, to online publicity and our large format, fold-out Bolsover Stories Event Guide.

Results

The event was a resounding success for First Art. It brought the tight-knit community of Bolsover together, attracted tourists from the wider region, and boosted revenue for local businesses across the town. We like to think our witty, colourful and unique event branding and wayfinding went some way in making it an unforgettable weekend.