Description:

Elemental AKL is Auckland’s most delightfully disparate festival. With events ranging from a disco on ice to live butchery, this festival with an identity crisis needed a look and feel that communicated what it was, and positioned them as a leading festival of culture in Auckland.

With so many events and no overarching theme to bring them all together, Elemental AKL leaned into it’s mismatched nature and created a series of bespoke illustrations that turned it’s juxtaposition into its strength. The result was a strong visual identity that told people what to expect, and made them want to attend.

The communications for Elemental AKL centered around visual mashups of events on the lineup. Nine illustrations were created, ranging from a pair of ballerina sausage legs to opera singing cheese, showcasing a total of 18 Elemental AKL events.

Each illustration became its own curious animation. From tracking and mimicking the routine of a real ballerina to sound effects made entirely by one man’s mouth, one of the more peculiar official Auckland Council rollouts was brought to life.

Lyno was chosen as our campaign font to be as distinctive as our illustrations. Letters that take on bizarre shapes turned headlines into angular graphics delivering unmissable messaging that communicated the fun and oddness of the event pairings. A simple restrained colour palette of off black as a base allowed hero colours to stand out and let the illustrations take centre stage.

With little more than an illustration and a headline, our work communicated the spirit of the event in a strong, engaging and entertaining way. Executions captured the eye and delivered a concise snapshot of the multiple events on the lineup and the breadth of what you could expect to see.