UNBOXED

Background
UNBOXED, is a one-​​of-​​a-​​kind creative cultural celebration, provides a chance for people and communities everywhere to come together and celebrate the UK’s wealth of creativity and create memories that will last a lifetime, providing a lasting legacy and inspiring the next generation.

The project was to engage 66 million people across the UK to experience creativity across science, technology, engineering, arts and maths. Commissioned by the UK Government, devolved administrations, festival board, founding bodies and the ten commisions.

Brief
SEA were tasked with delivering a highly contemporary digital-​​first brand identity and naming with a broad popular appeal to 66+ million people that’s both dynamic and future-​​facing whilst also human, invitational, and playful. Running from March to October 2022, the event will take place across the UK and online, where ten creative commissions will present projects that celebrate how creativity intersects across science, technology, engineering, the arts, and maths (STEAM).

While the identity should be characterful, playful and engaging – a creative act in its own right that can perform in its own spaces – it must be led by, and powerfully serve to reflect and promote the incredible and epic experiences of each of the Ten Projects without being distracting, overwhelming or interfering with them. It must also serve as a tool to unite with an overarching thematic that defines the festival as a whole and work across the four nations that make up the UK.

Solution
Unlike many other cultural festival identities that are driven visually by single emblems, we devised an ever-​​evolving vortex that adapts throughout the year-​​long campaign. The bold, playful, adaptive design of UNBOXED is dynamic, moving and media-​​oriented. The design concept openly and collaboratively invites both visual interpretations of all aspects of creativity and the wider public audiences, supported by a bold and memorable typographic approach that allows variable flexibility across all media platforms from digital to printed executions.