Arts D&G
Brand Identity
Arts D&G wanted to frame the organisation as a refreshed, year-round, region-wide performing-arts platform - not simply a renamed festival. We created a new identity that needed to feel high-quality and ambitious while remaining open, rural-rooted, contemporary, and accessible to people across Dumfries and Galloway.
Brief
Arts D&G is the evolving identity for the former Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival, transitioning from a 10-day festival in Dumfries to a year-round, region-wide performing-arts organisation across Dumfries and Galloway. The brief was to create a new identity that clearly communicates this shift, establishing Arts D&G as a platform for live performance, creative participation, artist development and community connection across theatre, dance, music, comedy, spoken word and poetry.
Approach
The approach was to treat Arts D&G as a substantial organisational shift, not merely a new name or logo. The identity needed to be built around quality, freshness, location and inclusivity. Rather than a fixed logo, the focus was to be on a flexible identity system that adapts to a touring programme, community projects, youth activity, artist development and different art forms. The visual and verbal language communicated connection, movement, opportunity and exchange across the region, making Arts D&G feel like a network that brings people together across geography, generations, tastes and disciplines.
Challenges
The core challenge was to broaden the organisation’s relevance without losing the trust of its established audience. Arts D&G had to appeal to long-standing attenders while becoming more visibly relevant to younger people, families, emerging artists, local venues and communities that may not traditionally engage with formal arts organisations. The brand needed to avoid looking overly institutional, council-led or bureaucratic, while also avoiding excessive informality that undermines perceptions of quality and ambition.
Solution
The solution is a flexible, confident identity for Arts D&G that positions it as Dumfries and Galloway’s year-round performing-arts platform. It feels assured, contemporary and refreshed, inclusive across age and class. It’s collaborative and people-centred, energetic for live performance, clear for public information and flexible for multiple programmes and partnerships. The outcome enables anyone encountering the brand to understand that Arts D&G is not just a festival, but a region-wide organisation making high-quality performance and creative participation possible across Dumfries and Galloway for both existing and new audiences.
