Holt has created a graphic emblem for the City of Sydney, to represent the commercial activations and community celebrations of the 2013 festive season. The faceted, jewel-coloured star identity designed by Creative Director Christopher Holt, has begun rolling out across the city on metrolights, city flags, banners, posters, print and online advertising, website, promotional collateral and a range of digital applications.
"The City of Sydney is committed to building a city that competes on the world stage. We're known globally for our New Year's Eve celebrations and our vision is to produce a Christmas experience that delivers the same commercial and community returns for businesses, visitors and the people who live and work in Sydney," stated Steve Howlett, Design Manager at the City of Sydney. "The visual communications are a pivotal aspect of that experience. The emblem representing this time in the city must clearly embody that objective."
Holt was briefed to create a mark for Sydney's Christmas celebrations that drew upon the heritage of the visual language developed previously for the city's festive season by Boccalatte, but further evolves that work.
"The star is an iconic motif for Christmas, with strong historical, religious and secular associations, which gives it broad appeal across the community," Holt explained.
"From a design perspective, the idea was to create depth and more detail to deliver a strong visual impact. The colour palette is deliberately bright, which in concert with the dogmatically geometric, faceted design, produces a highly festive mood. The use of large numbers of bold tones is inspired by the work of painter Josef Albers and produces an effect where the colours interact with each other.
The intricate nature of the design intends to provide flexibility for the in-house team who will roll out the star. There is scope to pair more colours together to produce numerous nuanced executions, which they will do across a huge of array of applications."