Meet the creative team behind Wild Paths music festival

We are immensely proud of our talented students from BA (Hons) Design for Publishing, BA (Hons) Graphic Communication and BA (Hons) Graphic Design who made up the creative team in charge of giving Norwich’s first large scale art & music festival, Wild Paths a polished visual identity. We met up with them to find out how they came up with the concept and what it takes to brand a large-scale music event.

Left to right: Andrew (Head of Photography), Jamie (Web & Motion Designer), Jack (Art Director), Phoebe (Promotional Content Designer) and Holly (Illustration – Wild Paths IPA).

How did you come up with the creative concept and what was your input?

Jack: The creative concept for the festival really started with the name and what it meant in a literal sense. I worked through a number of design concepts alone, which I showed to the rest of the team. We then established which one would work best tonally for the festival.

Jamie: For the website, I wanted everything to be on brand and consistent. I’d never done User Interface design before, so I looked at the branding we had all created and just found a way to expand it.

How did you work collaboratively and how did you decide who did what in terms of creative production?

Jack: I knew going into pre-production I would need a team of creatives who could think independently and create the work I couldn’t – to think you can do absolutely everything on a project like this is crazy. I hand picked the team and designed basic roles for everyone that were built around their strengths.

What have you learnt whilst working on the festival?

Phoebe: Working on the festival has been a really great opportunity to collaborate with people on my course and across other disciplines, which has given me real, hands-on, teamwork experience.

Andrew: Working on this festival’s image with my best friends has been super fun and exciting, but I’ve also gained so much respect for them as professional creatives. I’ve learned a lot about how dedicated they are to their creative practices, and I’m so proud of them for how much they’ve pushed themselves on this.

How have you managed to negotiate both your course work and working on the festival?

Jamie: I got into the routine of dedicating 9-5 to Uni Work, then I’d have my evenings free to do whatever I need to do for Wild Paths. Thankfully though most my work load was during the summer so I didn’t have to worry about it too much. 

What has been your highlight working on Wild Paths?

Holly: The highlight for me was definitely seeing my work on an actual beer can, being sold in bars and venues across the whole of Norwich – it’s dream come true.

Jack: I got to do some guest lecturing on the City College media course. They are producing a TV show based on Wild Paths as part of their final diploma so I got to go in for a month and work on their ideas with them. It was really rewarding and I felt like I had really created something worthwhile. 

Photo: Chalisa Chanchuvanichkul

Any favourite artists that played the festival?

Jamie: So many! Mainly Franc Moody, History & Lore, The Magic Gang, Kulk, Monster Florence, American Blondes, Gengahr, Weird Milk.

Holly: José González is a top one of mine. I went to see Suds again as well as American Blondes!

What’s next for you as a designer or creative?

Phoebe: I’m excited to get stuck into Issue 20 of the NUA SU Storehouse Magazine as one of the Co-Heads of Editorial.

Andrew: For now I think I definitely need to knuckle down and push myself as both a designer and a photographer, but very soon I’ll be looking at establishing myself seriously and building portfolios and websites for both practices.