TRY Design bring a fresh update to Norway’s Peer Gynt festival with type inspired by ‘laft’ timber

As one of Norway’s most widely performed plays, Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt receives its own dedicated celebration in the form of a 9-day festival. For the leading cultural event, set in the scenic landscape of the Gudbrandsdalen valley, Norway-based studio TRY Design have provided a fitting identity which honours the heritage and atmosphere of the occasion.  

The essential component – and certainly most focal – of the updated design system is the custom display typeface, reflecting the festival’s blend of contemporary and traditional character. The striking forms take inspiration from ​​the traditional ‘laft’ building technique, a distinct wood-construction practice used predominantly in the region and time when the original Per Gynt lived in Gålå. To create the lumber-inspired lettering, the team worked with Norwegian type foundry Store Norske Skriftkompani. “When we initiated the collaboration with Store Norske Skriftkompani,” designer Sindre Annweiler tells us, “we had already sketched out the main components of the identity so we already had a pretty good understanding of where we wanted it to conceptually originate from and the level of detailing.”

It was important for the team to work with a foundry that, as Norwegians, would not only understand the cultural significance and context of the event, but also be familiar with the Norwegian alphabet. “There are certain letters such as ‘Æ,’ ‘Ø’ and ‘Å’ that prove very challenging when working within a limited stylistic framework such as the one developed for the Peer Gynt Display typeface,” Annweiler explains. “Store Norske Skriftkompani really nailed that and did a great job of balancing the degree of legibility versus the edge and expressivity that we desired. It was all over a very smooth and rewarding collaboration.”

As an accompaniment to such a striking, dominant, and expressive typeface, TRY Design opted for something more sturdy and neutral. At the time, Displaay had just released Clear, which, according to the designer, “had just the right amount of character that we were looking for and the two complimented each other very well.”

Alongside concerts, exhibitions and an awards show, the highlight is a spectacular theatre play by lake Gålåvatnet. The studio were inspired by the scenery in their choice of colours, observing the change in hues that takes place throughout this main performance, from early evening until nighttime. “We wanted to create a palette that represents the environment and compliments the colours that you find in the natural surroundings,” Annweiler notes. “This way the identity feels native to the location, and is also very easily paired with imagery from the festival.”

One such example is the ‘buckride motif’ from the play’s opening scene, which TRY brought to the forefront of the identity as the main logo. For such an iconic symbol, used for many decades, “it would be a waste to discontinue it and the legacy it still holds,” Annweiler explains. “At the same time,” he continues, “Peer Gynt is often described as the national story of Norway and as a result, a wide variety of Norwegian brands often take use of the symbol. We, therefore, had to work to differentiate our stylistic depiction of the symbol in order to appear contemporary while also re-establishing the client's unique position as the true guardians of the Peer Gynt heritage.”

TRY Design

Peer Gynt