13th Polikultura Festival
The design challenge
The visual identity of a cultural event is no place for safe formulas, especially for a student initiative. Together with designer Milena Dębiny, we created a complete identity for the 13th edition of the Polikultura festival, commissioned by the Institute of Culture at Jagiellonian University, built on one simple principle: this design has to feel alive. The theme was the slogan “W tym płynie prąd” (“There’s a current in it”), which shaped every design decision, from the color palette to the energy of the composition.
Here’s how we turned the concept into a working visual system.
A composition that stops you
The poster itself, whether seen on a phone screen or passed on a street in Kraków, is built around a strong central axis. This layout immediately draws the eye to its focal point, the glowing orb, and only then lets you explore the details and read the lineup. The goal was simply a hierarchy that first intrigues visually and then delivers the practical information flawlessly.
Youthful energy wrapped in a metaphor
The main visual is an illustration of hands surrounding a pulsing, glowing orb, a direct reflection of the natural, youthful drive to seek energy and a creative current. Instead of stiff, perfectly smooth vector shapes, we chose an organic, slightly grainy style that gives the whole thing a human, tangible feel. That raw texture tells viewers right away that this is a living event driven by real commitment, not a sterile product.
Scaling across the festival grounds
An effective event identity has to be extremely flexible and hold up in any format, so we developed a system that scales easily in physical space. We applied the same composition rules to the vertical feather flags, which play a key role in wayfinding and organization by marking the different festival zones. Careful cropping of the hands from the main visual kept everything fully consistent, without the graphic feeling forced into a narrow format.
Minimalism instead of advertising
When designing the festival hoodies and T-shirts, we completely skipped the simplest and most common approach: printing the main poster one-to-one straight onto the fabric. Instead, we pulled one specific, minimal detail from the identity, a nod to sound level meters, and placed it precisely on the clothing. Thanks to this logical breakdown of the system, attendees got a good-looking, understated piece they’re happy to wear every day, long after the festival lights went out.
A handcrafted feel
To deliberately break the digital chill, we chose Ruda Two, a typeface with strong craft roots, for the main type layer. Its slightly irregular lines and hand-drawn flair communicate what matters most in initiatives like this: handmade work, commitment and nothing sterile. The supporting Brice font brings the necessary order to the information, so the concert and exhibition schedule can be laid out clearly without clashing with the expressive main headline.
Contrast that builds tension
The key to conveying the physical feeling of “There’s a current in it” was creating the right visual tension. We achieved it by pairing a deep, very dark purple background (HEX #220c33) with an aggressive pink (HEX #ff84d3) and an energetic yellow (HEX #ffe783). This color scheme doesn’t just stand out strongly in space; it creates a deliberate, almost electric contrast that makes the viewer react instantly and focus on the message.
The visuals captured the theme of our edition, “W tym płynie prąd” (“There’s a current in it”), perfectly, from the posters to the flags and merch.
