Rebrand design launch for Digital Skills Festival; Greater Manchester’s most prolific tech community event.
Very excited to have been working alongside Manchester Digital to rebrand and help relaunch the Digital Skills Festival, taking place this February 25.
For over a decade, the Digital Skills Festival has been a cornerstone event, uniting the tech community across Greater Manchester. Now it has been re-designed for a new era to help propel the growth of the regional tech sector.
The goal was to make the brand more vibrant, dynamic, and reflective of the innovative tech sector that it operates in. The updated brand needed to convey energy, innovation, and a forward-thinking ethos.
Full case study to follow as the programme develops and rolls out but key points and visuals here…
The new brand set consists of an updated standalone logo mark that works alongside a striking range of graphic iconography which is applied in a variety of ways across a number of key events, formats and deliverables.
The logo mark has been updated so that it can just be simplified to the dated initials ‘DSF’ as an identifier or split into to a generic logotype when used with ‘evergreen’ content.
A bright, bold ‘digital first’ RGB colour palette has been developed to promote events within the festival allowing for variety across deliverables.
A bank of people centric portrait imagery has also been been introduced using confident, modern lighting techniques, these have been used to show the diverse range of talent that make these groups up.
‘The Digital Skills Festival rebrand is vibrant, modern and dynamic. Through its use of colourful graphic iconography and contemporary portrait imagery, it is reflective of the diverse digital communities it represents.”
F is for Festival
A key component of the new Digital Skills Festival branding is a stylised graphic mechanism which is based on the letter F. This graphic mechanism has its roots in digital pixelisation but given a contemporary spin by its application of gradients and bold use of colour.
These elements can be used with and without logo, in isolation, over image, or as text holder.
Katie Gallagher OBE, Manchester Digital’s managing director, said: “With a new Government focused on Apprenticeship Levy reform and the development of Skills England, it’s vital that the region and the tech sector have a strong voice in shaping new skills and tech policies.”
“Manchester, one of Europe’s fastest-growing tech hubs, is home to over 86,000 tech professionals and the Digital Skills Festival is the perfect platform to reflect and focus on the workforce that we need to build and skill for the future. It’s an opportunity for tech businesses to showcase their commitment to innovation, diversity and community impact while strengthening the link between industry and education.”
“Gary has been an absolute joy to work with. I approached him with the significant task of completely redesigning the branding for our Digital Skills Festival, all with a very tight turnaround. Armed with just a basic Word doc containing design inspiration and suggested colors, Gary exceeded all expectations with his creativity, speed, and overall execution. Honestly, we could have chosen any of the three design themes he presented, but the final brand design truly knocked it out of the park. I’m thrilled with how our festival branding looks now. He also provided a comprehensive set of assets and clear design guidelines, making the whole process seamless. His work has given our festival a fresh new identity, and the feedback on the rebrand has been nothing short of fantastic. Thank you, Gary, for being a phenomenal designer—I highly recommend GOTO’s services!”
Roxy Stafford
Programme & Events Manager
Manchester Digital
