ABOUT

b-side work with artists and communities in Dorset to present contemporary art in an accessible way to different people and audiences. They use unusual places for art installations and performances, with a vision of bringing art outside, allowing artists to create artwork in response to places that all communities can see and enjoy. Every two years, b-side produce a ten day arts festival within an area of Dorset in support of this vision, allowing a selection of artists to create installations in response to the area, within the area. They capture the feel and presence of an area, bringing communities to life in a way they may not have thought possible.

Their 2016 festival was to be held throughout the Island of Portland, so it was important that visitors, particularly those who were not familiar with the area, had a clear understanding of how to find their way around the island, as well as the festival itself. The festival is a vast and diverse affair, as the art installations are spread out and integrated within the location and community. The festival requires a lot of hard work and preparation from the team at b-side in the months leading up to the event, as at the same time different marketing campaigns are sent out to generate interest and printed materials are created to help guide visitors around the festival and installations.

Open day flyer – Prior to the 2016 festival build up, b-side moved from their offices in Dorchester right into the heart of the Island of Portland in Fortuneswell. To celebrate and promote their new lodgings, the team held an open day for local residents and potential funders and supporters to visit and gain an understanding of who b-side are and what they achieve for artists and communities. To help summarise the work b-side create and achieve for their biennial festival, they required a small card or flyer that could be placed around the office during the open day for people to pick up and gain a quick snapshot prior to the events they would be seeing for the festival in September 2014. The copy and image were facts and stats from their 2014 festival, with a clear demonstration of their branding, to begin making a mark within the community and for the festival ahead.

Advertising – Even Coca Cola need to advertise, and although b-side have built up an incredible following and support base from their past five festivals, they understand the value of reaching out and appealing to their audiences. In the build up to each festival, local residents await to see a glimpse of what's to come via teaser flyers and magazine adverts, wanting to hear of which artists will be appearing around their local area; almost like the Glastonbury line up!

I created teaser flyers, magazine adverts and invitations sent out to supporters and potential visitors to whet their appetite and generate interest in the artists and artwork they may be producing on their doorsteps.

Signage – For the 2016 festival, b-side commissioned two large 48 and 96 sheet billboards, as well as roundabout signs, A2 boards and directional signs to be produced to help guide visitors around the Island. The challenge was to keep the same look and feel from the advertising stage of the campaign, in order to create a linear feel of familiarity for visitors coming from afar.

Festival Guide – In 2014, b-side created a free double sided A2 festival map and event listing as a festival guide for their visitors to navigate around the area. However, feedback expressed that the event listing was complicated to understand and match up with the events on the map on the reverse side. The map was also too large for some people to easily access the information they required, and frustrating to keep folded up whilst moving from installation to installation. Therefore for the 2016 festival, b-side were looking for a simpler and more compact way for their visitors to both navigate and find the events they wanted to see in a quick and easy way. The solution was a B5 festival guide, incorporating the map broken down into different areas of the Island, events numbered on the map, a day-to-day calendar and information about the events clearly labelled alongside the different parts of the map with a colour coded system. This way, visitors could navigate around the festival in the way they found most suited to their visit; either by location, time, day or event.

Artist catalogue – For their 2016 festival, b-side wanted to create a supporting artist catalogue that could be purchased by visitors and potential supporters, to further demonstrate their commitment to making contemporary art more accessible to anyone, and the community of Portland.
The brief was to produce a souvenir booklet that had a modern, minimalist and exclusive feel to it, with a design that reflected b-side’s unique identity – creating intrigue not only for the art, but for the Island of Portland too.
It was important to demonstrate the site specificity and response to Portland the artists had taken in their approach to creating their installations; the importance of b-side’s relationship to Portland, its people, heritage, aesthetics and culture.