(Image credit: Sundance Film Festival / Porto Rocha)
The US's longest-running independent film festival, Sundance, has just revealed a new logo and its first full brand identity intended for long-term use. And the design is perfect for a festival that champions independent movies, paying homage to the big screen and the history of moviemaking.
The new logo design is inspired by the standard cinematic widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9. Okay, so basically, it's just a rectangle, right? Well, yes. But it's a rectangle that says so much. Within the wider branding system, it will serve as a framing device, like the big screen itself, framing footage and stills from the festival archive (see our tips on how to design a logo for more inspiration).
Image 1 of 3
The first long-term Sundance Film Festival logo easily fits all kinds of collaterals(Image credit: Sundance Film Festival / Porto Rocha)
The shape of the new logo is used as a frame and for other film-inspired designs(Image credit: Sundance Film Festival / Porto Rocha)
And, of course, the logo works in 3D(Image credit: Sundance Film Festival / Porto Rocha)
Designed by New York creative agency Porto Rocha, the new logo is just one part of what is the Sundance Film Festival's first long-term brand identity. The festival has been running in Utah since 1978, but each event has had its own identity, with no continuity from one to another. That's fine for a small event but problematic when faced with the quantity of assets and year-round communication it deals with today.
The festival decided it needed a more permanent identity to cover all assets and also reinforce public recognition of the annual event. "The identity needed to represent a legacy as well as a forward-looking ethos – at once timeless and contemporary," Porto Rocha says. “To do this, we developed a brand language that – just like the festival – supports all kinds of stories.
Image 1 of 2
Showing now, the new Sundance Film Festival logo (Image credit: Sundance Film Festival / Porto Rocha)
Design assets take centre stage(Image credit: Sundance Film Festival / Porto Rocha)
Other elements of the brand system include typography set in Monument Grotesk, which makes an impact while being neutral enough to fit diverse genres and titles. Meanwhile, visual assets develop the shape of the logo into new stories connected to filmmaking, capturing the energy of watching a movie in a cinema with animated 3D compositions in a broad neon palette.
Need to update your own design tools? See the best current prices on Adobe's Creative Cloud below, and see the best graphic design books for more inspiration.
Read more:
Get the Creative Bloq Newsletter
Daily design news, reviews, how-tos and more, as picked by the editors.
Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.
