Hay Festival

Accessible and playful design for an internationally recognised literary festival

Accessible and playful design for an internationally recognised literary festival

Project Information

The worlds of art, literature, science, politics, music and comedy collide at Hay Festival – a place where diverse voices tackle the political, social and environmental challenges of today. Based in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, Hay Festival began in 1987 and now runs events and projects all over the world. 

Originally assisting Hay with the design of the Global Review – a celebration of their international impact over the past year – our design team went on to create a full set of assets for the Winter Weekend and the week-long, flagship festival in May.  

As an international festival with a huge number of speakers, discussing a myriad of topics, Hay required design interventions that were immediately accessible to a wide audience. We generated a strong graphic motif that referenced the pages of an open book and could be applied to the logo and across a selection of visuals, such as posters, adverts and billboards.

We worked with artists, Róisín Henman-Kyle and Lizzie Lomax, to produce playful illustrations that highlighted the joy of reading and the curiosity provoked when exploring new ideas. The eye-catching drawings were friendly and colourful, and were pitched at a broad range of attendees.

Design work was prepared for the festival itself, including signage, festival bunting, leaflets, posters and festival branding to ensure the large site had a coherent and bold look, easily identifiable to the hundreds of thousands of visitors.

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