Complete Graphic Design (Logo, Web, Print) for Séfer Barcelona Book Festival

Challenge

Modern book festivals face several challenges, but one is very common: they have to look trustworthy as cultural events, so as to attract their usual audience, but also modern and appealing to young audiences without being offputting to their traditional segment.

This challenge is faced also by Séfer, a book festival organised by the Cultural Platform Mozaika, a volunteer-run organisation in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

This challenge manifests itself in various ways, visually:

1. Material has to use imagery relevant to the festival activities and well known to the general public;
2. The logo has to be punchy but not edgy, conservative and playful;
3. Colours have to be simple but attract attention;
4. The overall composition of the material has to convey gravitas and modernity.

Solution

The new design aims to maximise the audience from both traditional and youth segments.

We set up a weekly meeting with the festival team where we discussed their experiences during the previous years, the profile of their segments, and the tone they were looking to set. After a few iterations, we decided on a minimalist tone so as to minimise the points of friction with each segment. In addition, we established the imagery that was more familiar to their audience (authors they knew most).

Similarly, the logo combined rounded and sharp shapes so as to be inclusive with regard to different groups.

While metrics for print are difficult to capture, the client’s engagement on social media increased with the use of the produced images.