Oz Fest: A celebration of Australia and India

Oz Fest is about to descend on India with over 100 events planned in 18 cities across the country. Running from 16 October through to 5 February, it will be the largest Australian event to be ever held in India, even seeing a visit from Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Australian culture for most conjures up images of didgeridoos, BBQ’s, Mick Dundee, cricket and Australian Masterchef. Although the programming obviously encompasses a lot more (music, art, food, films, literature, dance, sport and ideas), it doesn’t shy away from the clichés and certainly seems to satisfy our base need for these traditional necessities.

The opening ceremony in Delhi will certainly be one of the highlights with performances from Aboriginal singer/songwriter Gurrumul Yunupingu, didgeridoo master Mark Atkins and musician Anoushka Shankar. What we’re most excited about are the 3D projections that will serve as a backdrop, orchestrated by Sydney based AGB at the Purana Qila.

The Aussie BBQ programme isn’t about snags and shrimp either, but about “food for the soul”. It will see upcoming Australian musicians Karnivool, Big Scary, The Aston Shuffle, Jija Safari and Sheppard tour around India also making appearances at the Bacardi NH7 Weekender in Pune.

The Sound Chamber (unfortunately exclusive to the NH7 Weekender in Pune ) is also another highlight, an interactive sound art experiment inside a dome that (in a nutshell) creates sound and bursts of colour when you start to move.

Another interesting concept is the Bookwallah, which will see six Australian and Indian writers travel across India by train accompanied by an ingenious travelling library. Making stops at Mumbai, Goa, Thiruvananthapuram, Bengaluru and Chennai, the journey will see writers discuss their books, dine with Indian writers in their homes, talk with key thinkers and visit some of India’s most "thought provoking places".

There are a few surprises in store with a large Australian act/band/DJ yet to be announced. There will also be two opportunities during the festival for people to take part in a competition to win an all expenses paid trip around Australia. More info on these as we have it.

As Australia elevates its relationship with India to the “front line”, Oz Fest aims to demonstrate a contemporary understanding of Australia in India while simultaneously exploring and enriching the connection between the two communities.

Oz Fest is the largest Australian cultural festival ever, to be held in India. The use of dots in identity we created, was inspired by Australian aboriginal art and Gond tribal art from India. This is metaphoric of the coming together of two great nations to celebrate the best of Sound, Stage, Screen, Art & Design, Words & Ideas, and, Food & Sport. The colors are based on the hues of the Australian Outback.

We also created specific patterns to represent each of the genres. These dot patterns give the identity a dynamism and are used to connect each genre such as Sounds to a specific pattern. If the event relates to Sound then only that pattern is used else all the patterns for the festival are used on common collaterals.

Oz Fest was Nominated for the Kyoorius 2013 Awards in the Design for Identity Category

The identity was applied to a range of collaterals such as:
• Brand Identity for Oz Fest
• Print Ad Campaign in magazines and newspapers such as TimeOut and Times of India
• Brand Identity Guideline Book
• Website for Desktop and Mobile
• Signage:
Venue signage (including standees, logo boards, directional signage, media board)
Building hoardings
• Print Collaterals:
– General and VIP Brochure
– Invitations
– Posters/flyers/e-flyers and emailers
– Advertisements (indoor and outdoor)
– Stationery such as folders, letterhead
– Postcards
– Alterations of logo for online use
– Directional Signage throughout venue for cafe, toilets, various halls and sites
– Symposium Schedule (also at registration area)
– Masking and Backdrop for Symposium Hall & Media/Registration
• Print Production and Supervision

Please note all photography is not owned by Ishan Khosla Design. They were provided to us by the client for explicit use for design of the brand collaterals only,