Mother Design talks us through its 2015 Sundance Film Festival identity

“It’s been funny seeing ‘Robert Redford to sign off’ on our work plans in recent months," Mark Aver, Mother Design New York design director tells us, revealing the new identity for the 2015 edition of the Sundance Film Festival. The independent film festival, which started in 1978 in Utah, is chaired by Redford, who from the sounds of it, takes quite a hands-on approach.

In something of an unusual brief, Mother Design says it was tasked with creating a look and feel that in a few years, will be seen to be only apt for the 2015 event. “We often hear the opposite from clients who look for solutions that are enduring and can stand the test of time”, explains Mark.

It’s a simple, bright look that feels celebratory without being shouty, built from bold, unexpected accent colours. The designs are based around the idea of the eclipse, echoing the parent brand in the perhaps unavoidable reference to the sun, though the idea of the burning circle device will be exclusively used next year. “The eclipse is built from a sun and moon, which immediately brought the Institute logo into the core of the solution,” Mark tells us. “We also liked that the eclipse is a visual metaphor for the convergence of filmmakers and audience that happens at Sundance.”