Oat Studio’s recent rebrand for Bristol Comedy Garden, a comedy festival, takes a subtle approach in visualising laughter. Collaborating with illustrator Zac Fay, the studio cleverly embeds the suggestion of smiling into the typography itself. The final identity conveys the essence of laughter more subliminally through a curvy word mark and supporting typeface, featuring moon-shaped descenders on the letters ‘y’ and ‘g’.

The rebranding heavily emphasises illustration, and Oat Studio invested considerable time in finding the right illustrator who could create artwork that strikes the balance between creativity and maturity, avoiding being overly childish. They eventually partnered with Melbourne-based illustrator Zac Fay, who was tasked with crafting imaginative images of plants, flowers, foliage, and intriguing animal-human “hybrid characters.”

Described as a “playful fusion of good times and belly laughs,” the festival identity aims to capture the joyful spirit of the events. The rebrand of Bristol Comedy Garden is just the first of four rebrands that Oat Studio is launching in collaboration with Fifty Seven Festivals, the comedy event company responsible for producing events like Greenwich Comedy Festival and Laughterama. The rebranding was essential to attract public attention and convey the vibrant and personality-filled nature of the festivals, featuring renowned UK comedy stars such as Jack Dee, Sara Pascoe, Ed Gamble, and Nina Conti.

Unlike previous years, where Bristol Comedy Garden utilised illustrations sparingly with the help of a toolkit, the revamped identity expands on this concept, incorporating a fully-illustrated border to further enhance its visual appeal. Oat Studio employed complimentary colour palettes and site-specific illustrations to subtly differentiate the branding across the series of events.