Helga Festival
In the Pskovian land, the homeland of ancient Russians, there is the Helga Viking Festival, which recreates the culture of the past and familiarizes visitors with the crafts, the history of the region and, of course, the martial arts. In the context of the rebranding, I had the task of developing an express visual style that reflected a unique historical and local characterization of events.
The key character of the festival is Helga, the first ruler on Russi. The essence of the festival: Saga o battles. It uses the image of the heroine, its war spirit of vengeance, with the the triumph over the the vortex (the hand lifts the sword into the sign of victory over the enemy). Printing of the sign was created with reference to rough and sharp graphs, a also contains an accent letter that sends to runs
Life at the festival is full of activities ranging from intense fighting and noisy trade in craftsmen to children’s masters in swordfights and authentic field kitchens. The key visual constant was a set of ornaments based on the canonic animals of medieval symbols: Wolf, Zayac, Dove, Dragon, Fish, Raven. Their choice is in line with the harsh spirit of the Helga era, reflected in the Radziville record: «As soon as she took the city and burned it, the city’s elders took the men captive and killed the others, and she gave the others into slavery to her husbands, and left the rest to pay a tribute.» All the elements were done in the form of paired ornaments, which forms a flexible modular system for building communication. The basis for the application of these ornaments is the flags that refer to the banners of historical battles. Flags are visual constants and serve as variations: compositions are easily folded into posters, banners and other large-format media, creating a rich graphical image.
The printing of the media uses two Gabin fonts developed by the student HSE Design& Art Ah Ren Che and Ysabeau from the Google Fons library for a small set.
The new identica has gained a clearer language of communication with the general public. The transformation of energy and meaning, while preserving the integrity of the main character (Helga’s own) and creating a history around it. Each element of the new identic system complements the image of heroine and its wars, and creates the emotion of celebration and adventure. The project has been able to distinguish itself from a series of history festivals, attracting both themes and new, young visitors.
To create an authentic atmosphere, the project uses photographs taken with the help of I.I. Gimini
