The new Visual Identity for MilanOltre: The Festival's Rebranding Blends Culture and Design
MilanOltre, Milan's esteemed festival dedicated to contemporary dance and performing arts since 1986, is stepping into the spotlight with a new visual identity, a tangible sign of artistic, generational, and strategic evolution. With a new artistic director at the helm and the launch of the three-year "Bodies-in-between" project, MilanOltre has embarked on a transformative journey that encompasses its curatorial vision, audience engagement, and artistic language.
In 2024, MilanOltre was selected as one of the winners of the call promoted by the Fondazione Italia Patria della Bellezza, which supports Italian cultural projects through strategic communication and branding activities. As a creative partner of the Foundation, Arteficegroup adopted the festival pro bono, offering its strategic and creative support to define a new positioning and a distinctive visual language, building a new identity system that tells, in a contemporary way, the fluid and polyphonic nature of the project. This also strengthens the Festival’s communication and positioning in the national and international cultural landscape.
The Visual Concept: The "O" as a Portal Between Languages
The heart of the new visual identity is an "O" that is not just a graphic mark, but a conceptual symbol: a threshold, an open space, a point of passage. A shape that both encloses and simultaneously liberates, capable of welcoming bodies, languages, and visions.
A mark with a modular and versatile strategic approach. A sign that carries meaning and becomes a mutable container to embrace and represent the many facets of the Festival.
The visual system was meticulously designed to be modular, adapting seamlessly to every content and channel. It's vibrant, thanks to a lively and never-dull Pop color palette. It's dynamic, through the use of evolving patterns. And it's authoritative, striking a balance between rigor and creativity with a distinctive font that expresses both strength and contemporaneity.
The result is an identity that evolves without losing its essence. Thanks to Arteficegroup's multi-layered intervention, MilanOltre's new face reflects a festival that is no longer just a collection of events, but an ecosystem bridging culture and design. Through a strong and adaptive visual identity, the project powerfully conveys the festival's complexity, vitality, and visionary capacity, clearly positioning it within the contemporary cultural scene.
"Branding the Difference" truly becomes a tool and vehicle for spreading the culture that the festival champions.
