The short version
- Film festival branding works when one fixed system frames dozens of films without competing with their own artwork.
- Each edition usually gets its own colour world, while the festival's logo, typeface and layouts stay the same from year to year.
- Programme posts should credit each film properly, with title, director, country, year and screening time.
- Laurels for selected films should come in light and dark versions with transparent backgrounds, carrying the festival name, the year and the selection.
- Daily schedule graphics and sponsor posts are easiest to keep accurate when they are generated from the programme spreadsheet.
On this page
Good film festival branding is a frame rather than a picture. The festival screens dozens of films, each with its own poster and stills, so its identity has to hold them together without fighting them. Fix a logo, a typeface and a handful of layouts that stay the same every year, give each edition its own colour world, and apply that system to everything: the poster, programme posts, daily schedules, laurels, sponsor thanks and the slides on screen before each film.
Everything a festival identity has to cover
Festivals are judged on dozens of small touchpoints, most designed in a hurry the week before opening. Listing them early lets you build templates once rather than improvising each one. Event branding covers the general approach; this is the festival version.
A3 poster
3508 × 4961
Programme post
1080 × 1350
Schedule story
1080 × 1920
Cinema slide
1920 × 1080
Event cover
1920 × 1005
Building the look for each edition
Many festivals keep their logo for decades and change the poster every year. That rhythm suits film: the festival is the institution, and the edition is the season. Choose a colour world for the year with a reason behind it, a theme, a place, a mood in the programme, and apply it to everything. Dark grounds suit cinema because they echo the auditorium and make colour glow like a projected image; dark gradient backgrounds shows how to keep them clean.
The edition poster at A4. The festival name and dates do the work; the colour world says which year it is.
Programme posts for every film
The film is the star of its own post. Use the official still the distributor or filmmaker supplied, uncropped where you can, and put the festival frame around it: a band of the edition colour with the film's details in the festival typeface. Every programme post should carry the same credit order so audiences can scan dozens of them quickly.
- Title, in the language of release with an English title if it differs.
- Director, then country and year.
- Running time and certificate or age rating.
- Screening: day, time and cinema.
- Strand or section, such as Debut Features or Shorts, if the festival uses them.
A programme post with the full credit line. In use, the film's own still fills most of the frame.
The same film as a same day story, leading with the time and the Q&A.
Film festival schedule design
The daily schedule is the post people screenshot and come back to. Make one per day rather than one for the whole festival, and keep the columns fixed so readers learn the layout on day one.
SATURDAY 9 OCTOBER
12:00 Shorts Programme 1 Screen 1 78 min
14:30 The Salt Road Screen 2 94 min + Q&A
17:00 Night Swimmers Screen 1 108 min
19:30 Opening Gala: Low Tide Main Hall 121 min
21:45 Midnight Strand: Static Screen 3 88 minThe programme already lives in a spreadsheet, so use it. With Gradiently Pro, bulk create connects the spreadsheet's columns to a programme post or a schedule page and makes every version in one pass. When a screening moves, change the row and create the page again rather than hunting for the old artwork.
Laurels for selected films
Laurels are the wreath shaped badges filmmakers put on their posters and trailers to show a selection or award. They travel far beyond your own channels, so they are some of the most widely seen pieces of your identity. Send every selected film a small pack as soon as the line up is announced.
Avoid
- A laurel with no year on it
- Only one colour version
- A JPEG with a box of background around it
- Thin script type that vanishes on a poster
- Different wording on every file
Do
- Festival name, year and selection or award
- White and black versions, plus one in the edition colour
- Transparent PNG and SVG files
- A plain, sturdy typeface that reads small
- Fixed wording: Official Selection, Winner, Special Mention
Gradiently Pro exports transparent PNG and SVG, covered in exporting SVG and transparent PNG, which is exactly what a filmmaker's designer needs to drop a laurel onto a poster.
Sponsor and partner posts
Sponsors keep most festivals alive, and they notice how they are thanked. Use one partner frame for the whole edition so every logo gets the same respect, and set logos on a calm part of the background where they read clearly; logos on gradient backgrounds covers contrast and spacing. Agree what each tier receives before the festival, so nobody is surprised.
Screen and print
Social
Screen and print
Social
Screen and print
On the cinema screen, partner and housekeeping slides run at 1920×1080 before each film; slide design tips apply. Close the festival with a thank you post that names partners, volunteers and filmmakers. In Gradiently, a claimed Mark can carry the edition's colour world across every format, and with Pro each design resizes to every size in one step.
Questions people ask
What is included in film festival branding?
A logo, a typeface and layouts that stay fixed, an edition poster and colour world, programme posts, schedules, laurels, sponsor posts and slides shown before each film.
What file format should film festival laurels be?
Transparent PNG and SVG, in white, black and one edition colour, so filmmakers can place them on any poster or trailer.
What should a film festival programme post include?
The film's title, director, country, year, running time, rating and the screening day, time and cinema, around the film's official still.
Should a film festival change its branding every year?
Most keep the logo and typeface and change the poster and colour world for each edition, so the festival stays recognisable while each year feels new.
Written by Gradiently
The team behind Gradiently, a design tool built around Marks: living gradients that make everything you design look like yours.
See our profile