HALIFAX URBAN FOLK FESTIVAL
GRAPHIC DESIGN / BRANDING / ART DIRECTION / PRINT DESIGN
Now a decade running, The Halifax Urban Folk Festival is a week-long musical series organized by The Carleton’s Mike Campbell.
The festival occupies a unique space in a city already rich in local music heritage — beginning at the end of August, as a celebration of folk music and artists who create it, it takes place across several intimate venues, with big-name songwriter circles on the weekend supporting talent from both home and away.
The HUFF team approached our agency for the first time in 2013, early on in the festival’s history, to help create an identity that would make it a household name at the street level.
Embodying the folk ethos
My agency’s team had defined the festival’s identity during the mid 2010’s, and I took them on as a client independently starting in 2016. As a lifelong alternative/independent music supporter at the local level, my goal was often to design album art and gig posters for the bands I would go see live at local clubs and small venues.
When HUFF rolls around each year, I am privileged with the opportunity to make rock ’n roll design once again.
I’ve helped to develop and evolve this brand over the years to encompass the independent, workmanlike spirit of the musicians that make the festival what it is, including collateral that echoes the classic look of cheaply-printed, artfully-made gig posters of journeyman folk and indie rock acts.
