The Making Of A Festival: The KITFest Brand
The trial and error story of how the Kenya International Theatre Festival's brand morphed into the colourful and vibrant array of Kenyan flag colours, as well as the celebratory pinnacle of Kenyan theatre.
Objective
Build a brand that distinctively communicates its unique artistic proposition, while retaining a direct representation of the identity of Kenya as a nation.Outcome
An outstanding brand with a great presence, utilising five brand elements. These include the abbreviation, a logo mark, a dynamic collage face, a festival season sub-brand, and a distinctive yet familiar colour palette evoking high brand relatability and affinity.When the first edition of the Kenya International Theatre Festival was held, there was no unique identifier for the festival. Tasked with creating publicity material, I experienced difficulty developing a unique theme that would serve as the festival's visual identity. I went on an exploratory journey that lasted three years, characterised by realtime trial and error of all the ideas that I felt may (or may not) work. There was only one way to find out - and I did.
The final visual brand elements were as a result of selecting the most unique and synchronised concepts from the three-year tests. Quite early into that period, I fell in love with the impression of a confident cultural performer; the human figure in the KITFest logo mark. Next, I reimagined the titling of the festival from its full name to the abbreviated KITFest. This allowed ease of interaction with the festival communities. This was followed by developing the official stylized hashtag that has become the main festival season identifier, making use of the then newly shortened brand name. From the year 2019, I ‘accidentally’ launched what became the official Face of the Festival collage. This dynamic impact-led brand element seeks to celebrate impactful people to KITFest and the theatre industry at large, and has run in each edition since then. Starting off as a kind gesture to our favourite festival acts, this face became one of my most treasured creations, because of the meaning and impact it continuously carries in each festival edition. It ensures a rich and celebrated historical archive of those that leave an impactful mark on Kenyan theatre. Long live KITFest.
