Tino Nyman brands From Start to Finnish with a contemporary take on vintage theatre aesthetics

From Start to Finnish is an annual showcase of Finland’s most talented performing artists at the world’s largest arts festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The project was officially set up in 2011 by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland and ACE-Production, following a pilot scheme in 2010. Since its formation, the project has presented 30 pieces of work; with the majority being nominated for or winning awards.

Helsinki-based art director Tino Nyman was tasked with renewing the project’s identity for 2019. His approach takes inspiration from vintage theatre aesthetics and Finnish stereotypes and modernises them to be more relatable to the public.

For the wordmark, No Bad Type’s high-contrast serif Thoreau Display has been customised to have more organic and experimental forms; balancing soft lines with sharp contours. Its regular version is used throughout the identity for headlines and titles, while Jiyukobo Ltd’s sans serif Hiragino is used for body and supporting text, giving a strong typographic contrast. In combination, the typefaces represent both a historic and modern Nordic aesthetic.

Finland is sometimes labelled as a ‘Land of Thousand Lakes’. This phrase inspired a series of simplified graphic forms that interpret the lakes and the rocks at their shores, without being too obvious. They are used to add contrast to the black-and-white text-heavy applications of the identity.

Tino Nyman