Branding ❋ Print ❋ Layout
Playground 2025
Overview:
Returning for it’s third year, Playground is an annual community event that brings together music, mindfulness, and creativity.
As joint Head of Creative and a member of the core team, I was responsible for crafting the identity for this year’s festival, driving ticket sales, and creating communications leading up to the event.
Held over five days at the end of September, it mixes the themes of Wellness, Artwork, and Music. With a capacity of 320 people, it’s an intimate journey of self-exploration and community.
The work shown here was a major factor in achieving our highest ticket sales and a 34% rise in revenue, smashing our targets and setting us up strongly for future events.
The Journey.
Playground is more than a festival; it’s a journey for the community. It’s essential to create moments of excitement throughout the year leading up to the event. Below, I outline that journey and the assets I designed in collaboration with Oliver Freiländer.
First Step
Invitation
Printed on uncoated cotton stock paper, with an envelope to match, sealed with a Playground mandala sticker, the reveal that the festival was to happen again had to be a moment of wonder for those invited.
The aesthetics of the invite had to match the themes and vibes of the festival, delivering a high quality experience, and creating excitement for those who received one.
Second Step
Social Presence
A strong social media presence was essential to increase ticket sales this year, and delivering a strong brand presence was really important to this.
Information posts, and details on the festival’s offering was essential to give new attendees an idea of the scale and vibe of the festival.
Third Step
Lineup Poster
Revealing this years festival identity was the lineup poster.
The poster, featuring 37 musicians, 19 artists, and 29 workshops, captures the full scope of the festival’s offering.
This year’s identity, “Last Sunset of Summer,” references the powerful sense of connection our guests felt during the long September evenings at last year’s event.
The remote location of the festival also allows for incredible views of the night sky, adding this this element to the identify was an essential part of creating a feeling of wonder.
Releasing the poster across multiple formats, including print, social media, and WhatsApp, marked a key moment in driving ticket sales.
Different Cloud styles in testing:
Final Steps
Festival Booklet
The booklet is essential for guiding attendees though the programme of workshops, art, and music on offer at Playground.
Alongside the content guide, I designed a site map and floor plans in collaboration with William McQuade to help guests navigate the intricate castle and multiple buildings that made up the Playground site.
Front:
Back:
Layouts:
Site Map:
Last but not least…
Wristbands
Working with payment company SLESH we created an easy to use payment phone free payment system, so people could leave their phones in their rooms and fully embrace the experience. The wristbands carried the festival’s identity and an NFC chip, which was used for payment.
Thank you.
This is an overview of around six months of creative work and collaboration. For any details on any part of the process or want to know more, drop me an email at Hello@charliemcquade.uk