The Edit: five projects including Lava’s vibrantly ‘smeared’ identity for Dutch festival Smeerboel

Each and every day, we’re lucky to discover dozens of interesting and inspiring projects from around the world. From global identities and campaigns to side projects and independently published books, The Edit is home to five of them; every two weeks.

The Dutch have brought many excellent things into the world – stroopwafels, Max Verstappen, gouda, you name it. But there’s one thing The Netherlands are particularly great at, and that’s music. Boasting sets from some of Europe’s best techno, house, disco, 90’s and 00’s artists and DJs, Smeerboel is a music festival in Utrecht with branding as lively and electric and the event itself. Designed by Amsterdam-based branding studio Lava, the identity introduces the ‘Smeer Tool’ – created as an interactive, web-based 3D tool for the festival. “In the first meeting with the festival team,” says Head of Design Sacha van den Haak, “we immediately recognised that the festival has a very clear proposition – creating cool and fun stuff. In the after movies of previous editions we watched visitors actively participating in the festival program. We knew right away that the creative concept should be straightforward and interactive. So, what if we take the festival’s name literally and get ‘smearing’?” The tool’s gestural and expressive nature is balanced through typography, notably Futura Condensed Extra Bold. “It was the only one font we could find that survived the smearing and still convey a ‘happy-go-lucky vibe’,” van den Haak reveals. Meanwhile, the team added luminous shades of yellow, red, purple, grey, and green to the colour palette to avoid a childlike aesthetic. The identity can evolve in future years too, with potential for new colour palettes and technological advancements, such as AR filters and physical interactions at the festival.

Lena Barclay-Steuart has successfully turned her passion for beauty into a flourishing empire, proudly establishing a physical beauty salon in the heart of Potsdam. The reinvigorated identity of Lena Schleweis, crafted by Berlin-based Studio VEH, draws its inspiration from the concept of gemstones, reinforcing the belief that each woman radiates a unique and dazzling brilliance. The visual identity juxtaposes bold gemstone shapes with gentle arch-shaped elements, inspired by the architectural elegance of the salon’s windows. The team opted for Grilli Type’s serif sans hybrid GT Ultra as the hero typeface for its geometric construction and calligraphic elements, which encapsulate the brand’s personality – personal, professional, and flexible. Following some tweaks from the design team, the wordmark also hides a gemstone shape in the ‘W’, symbolising the unique beauty of each individual. “For the colour palette,” Creative Director Franziska Veh and Art Director Lind Haugaard explain, “we drew inspiration from Lena’s body of work, her values and her natural sense of style, ranging between elegance, peachy softness, to more bold and stunning looks.” Combined, these elements craft an unmistakably striking and cohesive aesthetic that embodies Barclay-Steuart’s brand perfectly.

Office Regular, a sturdy sans serif font, combines functionality with modern aesthetics. Designed by Nick Losacco of Riptype Foundry, “the inspiration for Office Sans was Univers by Adrian Frutiger,” the designer tells us. The font was initially intended to be used exclusively for Riptype’s new website, however, noting its potential, the team decided to release it to the wild. The main design challenge was to maintain appeal at small sizes, even on smaller screens. Office Regular’s versatility – performing best at small to medium sizes – makes it suitable for a wide range of projects, and not just web use. Plans are in progress to expand the font family, thus increasing its appeal to larger brands.

In collaboration with copywriter Cat Wall and strategy studio Untangld, Universal Favourite has unveiled their rebrand for x15ventures, an Australian venture scaler powered by CommBank. The rebranding effort helmed by the Australian design studio aimed to align x15ventures’ strategy, visual and verbal identity with its dynamic growth and expansion in the fintech sector. The strategic concept ‘access advantage’ served as the crux of the rebrand, reflecting x15’s unique positioning between the corporate and venture worlds. This was visually articulated through the creative concept ‘made to scale,’ signifying x15’s mission to elevate ventures and careers to new heights. The identity preserved key pillars of the original brand, including the logo and the signature pink hue, while debuting a fresh geometric typeface, Catalogue. The design also features an expanding text box as a central asset – reflecting x15’s mission to expand horizons, potential, and opportunities – alongside a dynamic motion system that showcases scale, collisions, and collaboration.

Independent Canadian agency LG2’s identity for Les Francos de Montréal encapsulates the vibrancy and cultural richness of the annual music festival with a new graphic language that doesn’t just celebrate Francophone culture – it pulsates with the electric spirit of the event itself. A dynamic logotype, bursting with the vibrant colours of spring in each letter, forms the core of the design. The identity’s design extends beyond traditional boundaries, incorporating physical architectural elements to create an immersive visual experience. Oversized letters interact with the surrounding cityscape, enhancing the festival’s street aesthetic. This versatile design system allows for easy adaptation to each edition of the festival. It not only ensures a unified identity at every touchpoint, but also creates a timeless and resonant experience for both Montrealers and festival attendees.