Here’s how we evolved the visual identity for 'Love Saves The Day' festival
Last weekend, Bristol was buzzing with good vibes as 'Love Saves The Day' brought music lovers together for an unforgettable experience. As I reflect on the event, I wanted to share our studio’s journey in designing a festival’s identity.
Hey! What? has been the design partner for the Bristol-born festival since its inception, and this year marked my first time steering the creative direction.
A staple in the city’s cultural calendar, Love Saves is known for its impressive line up of UK talent and iconic stage builds, and has grown in both size and reputation. This year, we wanted to showcase the beautiful ‘golden hour’ moments at Ashton Court, using stunning photography taken last year.
Here’s how we brought the vision to life:
🤸 ROLL WITH IT
“We need to add 20 more artists to the social asset”
The design process for a dynamic event like a festival is never linear. There were countless moments when line-ups changed, new ideas emerged, and unexpected briefs pinged in. By keeping a flexible mindset, we were able to adapt quickly and pivot as needed, ensuring the visual identity evolved seamlessly alongside the festival’s planning.
🔄 ADAPT OR CRY
“Can you deliver this in the next 15 mins?”
One of the most exciting (and daunting) aspects of this project was the fast-paced environment. Tight deadlines and last-minute changes were the norm, but they also pushed me to think fast and deliver creative solutions under pressure. Whether it was tweaking the colour palette or rejigging elements to improve visibility and impact, quick adaptation was key.
👑 COLLAB IS KING
“Actually this is what we meant…”
Working closely with Team Love’s diverse team in marketing, operations and programming, I learned the importance of open communication and collaboration – like working directly in their offices to streamline communication. One IRL meeting can be way more efficient than multiple emails!
🔒 PROCESS ON LOCK
“Can you remake it in Canva?”
We created an extensive asset pack which made it easy to work with brand partnerships. Check out the limited edition Chilly’s water bottle and the Jubel Beer paste up posters (shoutout Earthling Studio who’ve done an awesome rebrand) as well as the WhipFlash photobooths!
It was crucial that the brand could flex across various formats, physical and digital. By creating robust Canva templates for client use, we could ensure that their outputs remained on brand as much as possible.
User-friendly tools like Canva are not only accessible but are also increasingly being adopted by seasoned designers. I reckon this trend is likely to continue, positioning Canva as another tool alongside your Adobe essentials (a blog post for another day!).
Internally, we ensured all team members were fully immersed in the project so that every asset left the studio on-brand. We’re only 3 designers in a small studio of 9 so our process had to be slick.
📈 IMPACT AND FEEDBACK:
“Same again next year then?”
Seeing the final designs come to life on billboards, social media, and festival merch (!) was super rewarding. I’m just a simple designer who feeds on validation so the positive feedback from client and attendees really made all the hard work well worth it.
To all the incredible team members, brands and festival-goers — thank you for making this an unforgettable experience! 🙌
There’s always room for improvement and next year we hope to make it even bigger and better :)
P.S. Can someone send me their lanyard or wristband please?
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