Callum
Benfell
Work
Product Redesign
Policy NZ
Torotoro VR Tour
Sam & Spoons
Common Ground
Bella Illustration
Beansprout
Policy NZ
Torotoro VR Tour
Sam & Spoons
Common Ground
Bella Illustration
Beansprout
Identity Refresh
Art Shows Across Aotearoa2025
Identity
Signage & environmental
Brief
Art Shows Across Aotearoa is a family-owned and -operated business that runs four art shows across New Zealand’s largest cities each year. Despite the organisation’s humble roots, these shows have become some of the country’s largest indoor art markets, and annually pull in tens of thousands of visitors.The organisation’s branding had remained the same since inception, but Art Shows Across Aotearoa’s owners wanted a refresh: one that distinguished them from being a “small-town, provincial arts-and-crafts show” and reflected a contemporary, aspirational brand that attracted artists and buyers from around New Zealand.
Further, because Art Shows Across Aotearoa doesn’t have an in-house design team, they wanted a bold, versatile brand identity that could be easily updated across different shows and formats (signage, tickets, advertising, social media, etc) using tools like Canva.
Solution
Art Shows Across Aotearoa distinguishes itself from its national competitors through its family-owned approach, emphasis on accessibility, and support for local artists and communities. Instead of holding singular, centralised events, Art Shows Across Aotearoa hosts multiple events in different cities and works with local artists, organisations and communities so that each art show is unique and regionally-focused. This is a real strength, and was already reflected its visual identity, which often featured region-specific colours and logos (see above).Beyond a few small changes, I found these logos to be effective ways of communicating each show’s regional and communal nature while still retaining a centralised identity. Art Shows Across Aotearoa emphasized that they wanted to change as little of these current marks as possible to retain brand equity, but mentioned that they did not like their use of provincial colours. I suggested a simplified version...
... which can be adjusted across different settings and sizes, and can be easily altered to showcase the beautiful work that would be on display at Art Show Across Aotearoa events, in a way that feels natural:
In some ways, creating an identity for an art show is straight-forward. The show’s products are already beautiful and visually compelling, and so crafting a distinctive brand around them is a more functional task than usual. The goal is to show off these beautiful products and centre them in a recognisable, flexible way. I felt that this set of adjustable logos, which function as ‘frames’ for the artwork, achieved this, and so they informed the direction and approach of the rest of my work.
By creating a set of templates for tickets, signage and advertising, Art Shows Across Aotearoa would be able to easily flex a coherent visual identity across different events. Furthermore, by providing standardised social media templates to the shows’ artists, Art Shows Across Aotearoa will take advantage of the 200+ exhibiting artists’ social media networks to promote each art show, as well as giving artists the tools to promote their own artwork too.
The following is a selection of collateral for the Auckland Art Show:
22 June 2025