WA Day
- Things we did
- Branding Campaign artwork Event design Print
- Client
- WA Day
- Year
- 2016
- Live website
- Visit website
WA Day celebrates Western Australia’s birthday. We gave the festival a bright, optimistic brand, a poster campaign created with London-based artist Noma Bar, and the look of the Western Australian of the Year Awards.
The challenge
WA Day is Western Australia’s birthday, celebrated across the state each June with a festival and the Western Australian of the Year Awards. It needed a brand that felt like a party for everyone, from families on the foreshore to the state’s most respected people on awards night.
What we did
We built a bright, optimistic identity in the shape of the state, its west coast drawn in rays of sunshine, and created the campaign artwork in collaboration with renowned London-based artist Noma Bar. For the Western Australian of the Year Awards, Noma redrew the Perth skyline with guests in black tie hidden in its negative space.
- WA Day Blue#00A8D7
RGB 0/168/215 - Sunshine#F9E100
RGB 249/225/0 - Coral#FF5843
RGB 255/88/67 - Plum#29042A
RGB 41/4/42 - Gold#C4AD60
RGB 196/173/96
A brand for a birthday
The logo takes the shape of Western Australia: sunburst rays of sunshine form the west coast, with the bold wordmark filling out the rest of the state. Bright blue, sunshine yellow and coral red keep the festival warm and playful, with plum and gold for the awards.
Western Australian of the Year
For the Western Australian of the Year Awards, Noma Bar redrew the Perth skyline in gold on deep plum. Look again and the negative space between the towers reveals smartly dressed guests in black tie: the people at the awards night itself. It set the tone for the evening, from the printed program to the room.
It’s WA Day. Just relax.
SOTA, State of the Art music festival
I pledge to relax on WA Day
Come Out & Play, the family day at the Cultural Centre
Campaign artwork
Noma Bar says the most with the least: economy of line, flat colour and negative space. Thongs become two relaxed sunbathers for “It’s WA Day. Just relax.” A hand raised to take the pledge holds a beach: our call to every Western Australian to relax on WA Day. A guitar becomes a guitarist for SOTA, and a balloon tied with a pencil invites families to Come Out & Play.
Relax poster
SOTA poster
Pledge Adshel
SOTA Adshel
Come Out & Play advert
Come Out & Play bag tag
Celebrate WA homepage
In Noma Bar’s book
The campaign in use
The artwork carried every part of the long weekend: street posters and Adshels, the SOTA music festival, adverts and bag tags for Come Out & Play, and the Celebrate WA website. Two of the posters went on to feature in Noma Bar’s own book.
TV commercial
Our TV commercial for the WA Day Festival, ‘Update’, took the campaign to the screen for the long weekend.
The result
WA Day gained a look as bright and welcoming as the day itself, stretching from an Underground poster to a black-tie ballroom. The brand has outlived our 2015 and 2016 campaigns: drones have since formed the WA Day logo over Perth’s Swan River, the image at the top of this page.
A birthday party for a whole state, from the foreshore to awards night.
