Bigfish’s joyful identity for Brisbane Festival 2022 marks the return of the city’s iconic event

In a euphoric explosion of colour, Bigfish have developed a confident and celebratory identity for the 2022 edition of the Brisbane Festival – embodying the pent-up energy of a festival returning after years of restrictions. Mixing the high and the low, the city’s most anticipated event of the year thrives on a tension between highly creative contemporary art and mainstream family engagement – with something for everyone but never one size fits all. The team at the Brisbane-based agency were tasked with the complex challenge of visually representing the festival’s broad offering. Opting for a flexible approach, they developed a highly adaptable system centred around an extensive colour palette, and elements that shift and re-shape through an endless variety of moods and executions. As Brisbane Festival has long been the ‘festival of pink,’ Bigfish aimed to continue this tradition, however, they quickly realised that a singular palette wouldn’t be enough to portray the diverse range of experiences on offer. As Creative Director Dave Byrne explains, “we decided to create a series of mini palettes that work in isolation rather than being mixed,” landing on 14 individual colours that compliment the brand’s pink, with each then having five different shades. The result? An impressive 70-colour palette broken up into 14 mini palettes.