Fleet Collective designs identity for inaugural Dundee Design Festival

Dundee-based creative group Fleet Collective has created the visual identity for the city’s inaugural design festival, which takes place this May. The designs are based around a colourful pattern inspired by Dundee’s skyline and the festival venue, a huge warehouse space that previously housed publisher DC Thompson.

“Dundee often gets represented very literally in design – we wanted to create an abstract design for the city from the viewpoint of the building where the festival will be based at West Ward Works. We wanted to make something that would work across scale and be a base for experimentation leading up to and during the festival – something that people could explore in different ways," says Fleet Collective designer Lyall Bruce. "Without being too literal about it the shapes are representative of the history of Dundee but the pixels and digital design are a good representation of Dundee as it is today. The pattern is very specific to Dundee but even more specific to the building that the festival is taking place in.”

The CMYK colour palette was chosen to reference the DC Thompson printing history, and as a further nod to the festival venue’s heritage publishing and storing publications including The Beano.

The festival runs from 25 – 28 May and will include an exhibition, talks, demonstrations and other events. “The main exhibition space will highlight many of the strengths of the city, including looking at design in life sciences, healthcare, computer games design, textiles and print. Design from Dundee will sit alongside international names and exciting new talent from throughout Scotland,” says Dundee Design Festival.