New logo and branding for Sundance Festival

Back in 1981, actor Robert Redford organised a small film festival in the mountains of Sundance, Utah. It's since grown into one of the world's leading cinematic events, and the organisation behind it, the Sundance Institute, has grown into a global nonprofit cultural organization working across a variety of artistic disciplines.

Pentagram's Paula Scher was tasked with creating a new identity for the Sundance Institute and a flexible identity system that could be customized for its many programs and initiatives. Bold, iconic and memorable, her design is based around the simple form of a bright yellow circle. At the same time, Scher also designed the graphic identity for the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.

Bright yellow

The colorful identity appears in bright yellow and is also accompanied by two variations in shades of mustard and warm orange. The logotype is set in Trade Gothic, the typeface of the identity.

The circles of the identity can be used to form series and patterns, as well as shapes, images and gradations. In communications like brochures and the website, the identity can be combined with stills from thousands of films and plays supported by Sundance, or photographs of the Utah locale.

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Have you seen an inspiring rebranding exercise? Let us know about it in the comments!