Yr Haf yn y Castell/ Summer at the Castle
Illustration, Branding & Identity
An identity for a series of live events hosted by Mwldan theatre and Cardigan Castle
Haf yn y Castell 2019
Mwldan is an arts and cinema complex situated in the centre of Cardigan, an old market town on the coast of west Wales. In 2019, their marketing and communications team asked me to create an identity that would act as an umbrella to draw together a series of Summer events hosted at Cardigan Castle. The events were largely music concerts with some outdoor theatre and cinema screenings.
As each event was individually ticketed, the branding needed to appeal to a wide audience of varying ages and interests. The designs needed to be versatile and to work across banners, posters, social media and web.
The team wanted a visual identity that was flamboyant, bold, retro and summery with an element of circus. It was also important for imagery of the Castle and Cardigan town to be included in the design in some capacity, as it was a unique and exciting location. I took inspiration from 60s psychedelic pop art and various vintage posters, ranging from Holidays to Circus events.
The use of bold and chunky typeface draws your eye, with a stripy pattern within the lettering reminiscent of big tops and fair ground rides. The banner shapes behind the text are inspired traditional signage associated with Castles, with grungy textures and old paper making it old and rustic.
Haf yn y Castell 2023
Last year, I was asked to revamp the branding I did for 2019. The team at Mwldan wanted to keep to the same bold typeface and similar structure to the previous branding, but evolve the design to something fluid, handcrafted and natural. It was important to include the castle and bridge visually, as this iconic venue/site is what makes the event unique and distinctive.
For the decorative illustrations, I took inspiration from the Castle Gardens, which is full of flowers and shrubs in the summer. The abstract shapes behind the text is the river Teifi that runs from its source at the Teifi Pools down to the coast at Cardigan.
The hot pinks and yellows make the graphic bright, summery and eye-catching with spray paint and grain textures giving it a more organic, hand-made aesthetic.
