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InspirationGraphic Design

Birmingham Design Festival's messages of love and hope in vibrant poster campaign

Despite having their event postponed this June, the organisers of Birmingham Design Festival are spreading joy around their home city with colourful posters featuring messages of love and hope.

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Three posters on a brick wall including Crowded House concert advertisement, colourful "We Can Do This" motivational poster, and "Please Believe These Days Will Pass" typography design

The billboard campaign was supposed to include advertisements for this year's event, booked through Jack Arts. But the space at 16 sites around Birmingham was still available, so co-founder Luke Tonge designed six typographic artworks include quotes like "Hope for the best" and "Love each other".

Bright and bold, each poster is bursting with colour, which pays tribute to the festival's 2020 theme. But Luke had barely any time to pull the campaign together: "There was no time for multiple routes, or even to show the team – I just hit send and hoped I'd spelt everything correctly," he says.

"I believe now is precisely the time we need clear and positive messages in our shared spaces – to bring a smile and counter the perpetual bad-news," Luke adds.

Both Luke and Daniel Acorn have had a lot of requests from people wanting to buy the posters. They're looking into doing a short run to raise money for charity, so watch this space. "We're still not sure when BDF will be possible, but I can't wait to hang out with our attendees and speakers for what will be I'm sure, a particularly enjoyable celebration of colour," says Luke.

You can keep up to date with their plans via @designfestbrum on social media, or via birminghamdesignfestival.org.uk.

Colourful typographic posters with messages including "Be kind, it's good for one another" and "We believe these days will pass" displayed on a billboard alongside street art in Birmingham
Colourful poster with bold typography reading "We Can Do This" in red, yellow, green and blue sections stacked vertically
Colourful billboard featuring bold typographic messages in bright pink, yellow, blue and green reading "Hope for the best, love each other, we can do this" and "Please believe these days will pass
Bold pink lettering spelling "LOVE" on a bright yellow background, part of Birmingham Design Festival's colourful poster campaign featuring positive messages
Colourful poster detail featuring bold magenta, yellow, turquoise and blue typography with partial text visible from Birmingham Design Festival's positive messaging campaign
Vibrant billboard poster on a brick wall with bold multicoloured typography displaying messages including "Hope for the best", "Love each other" and "We can do this
Vibrant colourful poster with bold typography featuring partial words in red, yellow, blue and magenta against contrasting backgrounds, part of Birmingham Design Festival's campaign
Colourful billboard poster on a brick wall with multicoloured text reading "Hope Love For The Each Best Other We Hope Can Do For The Best This
Colourful poster featuring large typography reading "Best", "Other", "We", "Hope" and "Can" in bold letters against bright backgrounds of pink, green, orange, blue, yellow and red, with Birmingham Design Festival logos visible
Colourful billboard poster on a weathered concrete wall displaying "WE CAN DO THIS" in large rainbow-coloured letters on an orange and blue background, part of Birmingham Design Festival's campaign of positive messages
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