V Festival rebrand by Form uses “circus-inspired” custom type by signwriter Archie Proudfoot

London-based design studio Form has rebranded Virgin V Festival, working with signwriter Archie Proudfoot to develop a bespoke typeface for use across event’s visual identity. The studio approached Archie to collaborate, aiming to bring the “fairground and circus” feel of his work to the project, to “reflect the celebratory feel of the festival”. It will be used on everything from posters to signage and merchandise.

The new logo is a significant departure from the previous flat, handwritten, single-colour logo with the Virgin heart. Form’s logo maintains the Virgin “V”, adding a sharp drop shadow, while the typeface designed with Archie uses capitalised, 3D, multi-coloured letterforms. It also keeps the Virgin logo floating above the main logo, though now within a circular balloon, which Form says allows more flexibility to accommodate other Virgin group logos in future.

Form has also created a series of graphic devices including 3D boxes, circles, arrows and background patterns for the identity, to be applied to marketing artwork such as news announcements and social media posts. This is part of Form’s comprehensive design guidelines for the festival.

“The Festival embraces many styles of music,” says Form partner Paula Benson, “so we felt the new identity should communicate an upbeat, optimistic summer experience of music.”