VAST (Video, Art, Science, Technology) Festival is a fictitious modern art, science, and technology festival centered around topics that affect a large number of individuals and are broad in perspectives.
The festival takes place at the Durham Arts Council and offers a provoking and powerful insight into the world of anxiety and phobias (the chosen topic) with installations, screenings, performances, workshops, and discussions.
VAST Festival targets a broad audience of individuals, preferably teens or older, who are interested in the intersection of art, science, and technology. With this year’s festival topic being phobias, individuals who have an interest in phobias or anxiety are also targeted. The market also includes curious and lively individuals who are interested in collaboration and interactive experiences.
Date: Spring 2022
Components: Branding, Identity, Advertising, User Interface, Packaging, Print
The Problem:
Of the 40 million Americans who suffer from anxiety disorders, approximately 15 million suffer from social phobias, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). This festival will explore the occurrence of phobias in individuals and how one can support themselves or others who are suffering.
The Goal:
Create a clear and clean design for the festival that is reflective of its thought-provoking, personal, and anxiety-inducing exploration of phobias. Utilize a consistent visual system that is appropriate for a wide age range and visually illustrates both the festival and its theme with its use of color, font, and imagery.
Welcome Box– Wristband / Lanyard, Welcome Guide and Program Guide, and Decals
Research- Festival Market Trends
1
Event App Importance
Event App Importance
Event apps can be used to customize the attendee experience. The app can let attendees mark their favorite acts and activities to create a personal schedule. Personalized notifications can also be used to remind them when their favorite activity is about to start or when a food vendor they were interested in is almost sold out. This data can be monitored to see what elements of the festival people were most excited about.
2
Premium Experiences Market Growing
Premium Experiences Market Growing
Attendees enjoy more personalized and premium experiences and appreciate tailored packages that offer exclusive passes and cater to their growing appetite for customization and choice. Promoters and event directors have been generating bigger audiences and extra revenue by offering more levels of VIP packages, season passes to a set of local events, and a variety of á la carte options.
3
Social Media’s Positive Influence
Social Media’s Positive Influence
The rise of social media has positively impacted the attendance of festivals and consumer events. Successful festivals use social media platforms to generate excitement, encourage conversation and sharing, and build a following that can be promoted to year after year. Events typically see that 20% of their event page traffic comes from social media.
Resource: Stay Relevant: 6 Event Trends Shaping the Future of Festivals, EventBrite
Research- Case Studies
Analyzes the structure, theming, and visual identity of three existing festivals.
STRP Festival (2019)
Overview
Location: Eindhoven, Netherlands
“STRP wants to set up an open dialogue with the public, artists, designers, media makers and thinkers about the relationship between people, experimental technology, society and the future.”
“For 10 days you will be immersed in visual art, exciting technological perspectives, performances, lectures and open discussions.”
Experience
Installations
Theatrical Laboratory
Performances
Interactive Experiences
Films and Imagery
Virtual and Mixed Reality
Lectures
Open Discussions
Statement
“STRP says: to hell with future phobia, here’s to the future! STRP explores scenarios for a positive future. We will guide you through a time in which technology seems to offer the solution for everything, and doom-scenarios are leading.”
Design Identity
Overlays the festival’s topic onto the festival’s name in the logo. Clearly utilizes two different identities, STRP’s, and that year’s topic for its branding.
The Big Anxiety Festival
Overview
Location: Sydney, Australia
“The Big Anxiety was founded in 2016 by UNSW Sydney in association with the Black Dog Institute and partners in the cultural, education and health sectors. The Big Anxiety brings together creative thinkers – including artists, scientists, health and community workers, and people with lived experience — to re-imagine mental health care for the 21st century.”
Experience
Performances
Immersive Artworks
Virtual Reality
Workshops
Panel Discussions
Interactive Public Artworks
Verbatim Theater
Installations
Sample Programming: The Empathy Clinic, The Ageing Future Institute, Edge of the Present
Statement
“A radically new kind of arts festival, in which every project is an open and continuing conversation, designed to promote curiosity, insight and action, The Big Anxiety presents arts events, tackling the major anxieties of our times, as well as the practical challenges of supporting emotional distress, trauma recovery and suicide prevention. Whether through hi-tech interactive environments or one-to-one dialogues, our goal is to create the rich engagements we need for our collective mental health.”
Design Identity
Identity uses a bold sans-serif text and a bright pink color. Posters advertising the festival overlay text on an image of a person’s head, where the brain is.
Ars Electronica Festival
Overview
Location: Linz, Australia
“The Festival for Art, Technology and Society will become a global anchor point. A platform for committed people who see the future, not as a glimpse into the tech companies’ crystal ball, but as the responsibility of our time and have begun accepting this responsibility, as social activation and empowerment, as a source of analytical, corrective and alternative thought and action.”
Experience
Screenings
Exhibitions
Immersive Installations
Concerts and Performances
Conferences
Open Labs and Workshops
Example Exhibitions: CyberArts Exhibition, Digital & Life Exhibition, AI Lab Exhibition
Statement
“Each year, the Festival has been dedicated to a new theme and the organizers are also constantly on the lookout for interesting new venues—indeed, the consistent effort to break out of the narrow confines of conventional conference rooms and artistic spaces, and to stage cultural and scientific encounters in the public sphere has become something of an Ars Electronica trademark..”
Design Identity
Creates a new identity each year that reflects that year’s theming. Utilizes a clean sans-serif font and a logo made of various symbols.
STRP Festival (2019)
Overview
Location: Eindhoven, Netherlands
“STRP wants to set up an open dialogue with the public, artists, designers, media makers and thinkers about the relationship between people, experimental technology, society and the future.”
“For 10 days you will be immersed in visual art, exciting technological perspectives, performances, lectures and open discussions.”
Experience
Installations
Theatrical Laboratory
Performances
Interactive Experiences
Films and Imagery
Virtual and Mixed Reality
Lectures
Open Discussions
Statement
“STRP says: to hell with future phobia, here’s to the future! STRP explores scenarios for a positive future. We will guide you through a time in which technology seems to offer the solution for everything, and doom-scenarios are leading.”
Design Identity
Overlays the festival’s topic onto the festival’s name in the logo. Clearly utilizes two different identities, STRP’s, and that year’s topic for its branding.
The Big Anxiety Festival
Overview
Location: Sydney, Australia
“The Big Anxiety was founded in 2016 by UNSW Sydney in association with the Black Dog Institute and partners in the cultural, education and health sectors. The Big Anxiety brings together creative thinkers – including artists, scientists, health and community workers, and people with lived experience — to re-imagine mental health care for the 21st century.”
Experience
Performances
Immersive Artworks
Virtual Reality
Workshops
Panel Discussions
Interactive Public Artworks
Verbatim Theater
Installations
Sample Programming: The Empathy Clinic, The Ageing Future Institute, Edge of the Present
Statement
“A radically new kind of arts festival, in which every project is an open and continuing conversation, designed to promote curiosity, insight and action, The Big Anxiety presents arts events, tackling the major anxieties of our times, as well as the practical challenges of supporting emotional distress, trauma recovery and suicide prevention. Whether through hi-tech interactive environments or one-to-one dialogues, our goal is to create the rich engagements we need for our collective mental health.”
Design Identity
Identity uses a bold sans-serif text and a bright pink color. Posters advertising the festival overlay text on an image of a person’s head, where the brain is.
Ars Electronica Festival
Overview
Location: Linz, Australia
“The Festival for Art, Technology and Society will become a global anchor point. A platform for committed people who see the future, not as a glimpse into the tech companies’ crystal ball, but as the responsibility of our time and have begun accepting this responsibility, as social activation and empowerment, as a source of analytical, corrective and alternative thought and action.”
Experience
Screenings
Exhibitions
Immersive Installations
Concerts and Performances
Conferences
Open Labs and Workshops
Example Exhibitions: CyberArts Exhibition, Digital & Life Exhibition, AI Lab Exhibition
Statement
“Each year, the Festival has been dedicated to a new theme and the organizers are also constantly on the lookout for interesting new venues—indeed, the consistent effort to break out of the narrow confines of conventional conference rooms and artistic spaces, and to stage cultural and scientific encounters in the public sphere has become something of an Ars Electronica trademark..”
Design Identity
Creates a new identity each year that reflects that year’s theming. Utilizes a clean sans-serif font and a logo made of various symbols.
Identity Design
The festival’s identity is concentrated around the use of red, purple, green, and blue (each represents a different sector of VAST), black, and a night sky background. The identity’s aesthetic feels colorful, modern, and futuristic.
Typeface
Typeface
Color Palette
#d6614d
#5e4476
#3e5442
#185b73
#ffffff
#d6614d
#5e4476
#3e5442
#185b73
#ffffff
Patterns and Textures
Ideate-Mind Maps
PromotionalPosterSet
Posters That Give Information about the Festival and the Timeline of Its Events
Sketches
Early Concepts
Final Designs
Ad Campaign
Ad Campaign Across Multiple Platforms, Including Print and Digital
Sketches
Early Concepts
Final Designs
Print Advertisements
Print Advertisements
Digital Advertisements
Digital Advertisements
App Design
Six-Page App Design for the Festival That Allows the User to Customize Their Planned Schedule and Purchase Tickets
Sketches
Early Concepts
Final Designs
Welcome Box
Welcome Box Given to Festival Attendees That Includes Their Wristband, a Welcome and Program Guide, and Decals
