Festspillene i Bergen — Strategic Rebranding of Norway’s Largest Arts Festival

Bergen International Festival, one of the oldest festivals in the Nordics for music, theatre, dance, opera and visual art, needed to feel clear and relevant to every audience. Nonspace developed a new design strategy and a dynamic identity. From 2012 to 2016, visitor numbers grew by 108% to more than 125,000.

Highlights

Three promotional posters for Bergen Festival events displayed on a brutalist concrete building facade — by Nonspace

Banners with abstract black and white geometric designs displayed on poles in a busy Bergen city square — by Nonspace

A modernist building facade displaying a large Marco Polo opera promotional banner with geometric design elements — by Nonspace

A guitarist performing on stage and an outdoor festival crowd watching a lit stage at night — by Nonspace

A man wearing a white knitted sweater with abstract black geometric patterns on the chest and shoulders — by Nonspace

A man wearing a light blue t-shirt carries a black tote bag both featuring geometric black and white designs — by Nonspace

Two large promotional posters for Festspillene i Bergen 2013 featuring brass instruments and a figure displayed on a building — by Nonspace

Two promotional posters for Bergen Festival featuring Marco Polo opera and Efterklang with KORK orchestra — by Nonspace

A zebra crossing with white stripes on dark asphalt intersected by yellow road markings — by Nonspace

A tall building displays illuminated windows forming a pattern alongside a large festival poster at dusk — by Nonspace

A man models a black and white geometric patterned hooded cape with matching tote bag — by Nonspace

Interior view of a modern festival hall with geometric patterned glass walls and cylindrical columns — by Nonspace

A hand interacting with an iPad music composition app showing a grid-based sequencer interface in Norwegian — by Nonspace

A stack of white program booklets for Festspillene i Bergen arts festival with minimalist black typography — by Nonspace

A program booklet for the 2013 Bergen International Festival featuring a white trumpet illustration and colorful geometric accents — by Nonspace

An open book showing a dark page listing artist names including Efterklang and William Basinski alongside a technical diagram — by Nonspace

A white business card for Silje Gripsrud of Festspillene i Bergen on a dark textured folder — by Nonspace

Three black pencils resting on dark notebooks with embossed geometric patterns and visible spine stitching — by Nonspace

A modern conference room with wooden table and chairs alongside wayfinding icons for an arts festival — by Nonspace

A black t-shirt featuring a white deconstructed trumpet illustration arranged vertically — by Nonspace

A black t-shirt featuring a white illustration of modular synthesizers connected by tangled cables — by Nonspace

A black t-shirt featuring white balloons arranged to form the letter F with hanging strings — by Nonspace

About the project

Festspillene i Bergen, also known as the Bergen International Festival, is Scandinavian's leading music and performing arts festival, held annually since 1953. Over 15 spring days (late May to early June), the festival transforms Bergen into a vibrant cultural stage, presenting over 200 events across more than 20 venues, from grand concert halls like Grieghallen and Haakon's Hall to intimate spaces like Edvard Grieg's Troldhaugen and public squares.

Visit the website

Bergen International Festival (Festspillene i Bergen) presents art in all its forms, from music to theatre, dance, opera and visual art. Established in 1953, the festival is one of the oldest and largest of its kind in the Nordic countries, with more than 220 events during the 15 days it lasts.

With content spanning from accessible street performances through classical symphonies to the avant-garde, our challenge was to create a visual language that could speak for all of it, with one unified voice.

(Work developed under ANTI)

Brand

Design Systems

Brand Strategy

3D & Motion Design

Logo Design

Visual Identity

Editorial Design

Brand guidelines

Graphic Design

Rebranding

Music is composed of sound and silence, carefully and mathematically structured through a balance of rhythm, pitch, dynamics and timbre, and it is these very elements that Bergen International Festival embodies. The city comes alive during the festival through a syncopation of different rhythms and melodies, both in the content the festival presents and in the diversity of its audiences. We created a visual profile that symbolises the essence of music and performance: a balance between the structural tightness of music and the playful invitation to grand experiences.

A logo that is both a traditional logo and a living, dynamic identity. A dynamic identity with such frequency that it functions as advertising, product and performance.

Defining a strict mathematical framework for the logo allowed us to use the perfect square as the starting point for a rhythmic pattern. The pattern, created by applying “the rule of four” to the logo, gives us the beat. The coloured bars give us the music, or human creativity and interpretation. Together they open up endless possibilities without losing recognition.

With creative ambition and strategic vision, we got past the limitations of the cultural sector. The project shows how design decisions can lead to greater public engagement, make use of the timing of exposure and find open space in an increasingly crowded cultural landscape.

With us as the only communications and marketing provider involved, the project shows the value of a holistic design approach: a systematic identity with great functionality.

A brand that has more than doubled the festival audience, to an audience equal to almost half the population of the city. From a festival with declining attendance, perceived as aimed at a niche audience, to a city- and region-defining event for everyone.

Moving from the bald and grey, towards the young and dynamic.

The brand has delivered stronger results year on year, without requiring extra investment per audience member. Over four festivals, the identity has shown no sign of fatigue.

The rebrand has contributed to a 57% rise in ticket sales and a 59% rise in sponsorship and private donations, resulting in a 32% rise in total income (2012 to 2016).

The first year of the new festival identity saw a 100% increase in first-time visitors and the highest ticket sales in the festival’s recorded history. Attendance rose from 60,026 in 2012 to 84,494 in 2013, while the total number of theatre visits in Bergen fell by 8.4%.

From 2012 to 2016, the number of visitors grew by 108% to more than 125,000.

In 2014, for the strategic rebranding of Bergen International Festival, ANTI was awarded the Cannes Lions Grand Prix in Design, the Grand Prix for Brand Identity at Red Dot, two golds at ADC Global, a Gold Pencil at The One Show, Best of Show at the European Design Awards, Merket for god design, gold at Gullblyanten and two golds at Visuelt, and in 2017 the STELLA award and Hegnar Media Businessprisen for Creative Effectiveness. In 2018, ANTI became the first Norwegian agency to receive the Design Business Association’s Design Effectiveness Award.