Description:

Kōanga is an annual festival presented by Te Pou Theatre that celebrates Māori stories and storytellers. For its tenth anniversary we were approached to redesign the festival's identity.

Kōanga (Spring) marks a time of year where the days get warmer, trees blossom, and we start to prep the land for planting. Similarly, Kōanga Festival cultivates fertile ground for Māori playwrights to develop their skills and see what fruits may spring to life from these rich soils.

Although it's a somewhat unconventional approach from a mainstream theatre perspective, for us, it was important to lean into these inseparable connections to te taiao. Our Māori stories and culture are ultimately shaped by the land and natural environment.

Firstly, a colour was agreed upon. A bright yellow that symbolised kōanga through the flowering of the kōwhai tree. It emanates warmth and happiness, flows with creative energy and speaks to improvisation.

Secondly, a hero photography layer was developed. The word kōanga means to dig, referring to the tilling of soil before planting crops. Inspired by this we created a grove of sculptural koru that can be dug into the ground and photographed in different locations each year. For the first shoot, Te Henga was chosen as a location, to acknowledge West Auckland as Te Pou Theatres home.

Lastly, to emphasise the richness within the festival's name, a distinctive wordmark was created, adding a textural layer of kōwhaiwhai in the form of unfurling vines that grow to tell a story.

This combination of elements creates purposefully quirky juxtapositions with a theatrical twist. We created a brand hierarchy spanning overarching hero comms, through to individual show and event layers. The brand was rolled out across a teaser and launch campaign with posters, billboards, social tiles, website, merchandise, printed collateral and animations.