05:48 First light
The year’s longest day
Once a year the sun stays up longer than on any other day. SOLSTICE is the festival that stays up with it.
Three days around 21 June. Doors open before sunset and the last set ends after sunrise.
08:00 Why this sun
Six sketches, one sun
A festival named after the sun needs a sun that is not a cliché. We drew the obvious ones first and threw them away.
The one that stayed is the plainest: a disc, cut by the horizon it is sinking into.
The starting point
People make the sun
The first reference was a circle of people lying on purple grass. A sun does not need rays to be a sun.
09:30 Construction
Built on a grid
- One circleRadius 265 on a grid of 53. Everything else is measured from it.
- Five cutsThey grow from 7 to 42 units while the slices between them stay about 36 tall. The sun sinks faster as it goes.
- First cut at 55%That is exactly where the gradient turns from yellow to pink, so the first cut is also the first colour change.
- No raysWe drew them and took them out. The cuts say the same thing with less.
13:53 Zenith
One headliner, never cancels
Lineups change every year. The sun is the only act that is always on the bill, so the identity gives it top billing.
One disc, large, centred and alone. Everything else on the page steps back and lets it rise.
17:00 Applications
On the ground
The mark works at 12 pixels on an amp plate and at 12 metres on an inflatable.
18:30 Lettering
Letters wide as the horizon
The name sits under the sun like a stage under a sky. We drew the capitals extra wide and spaced them by eye, not by ruler.
Open shapes like L and T tuck closer. Round ones like O and C need room. All seven gaps land between 8 and 15 units and still look even.
The line below is light and widely spaced, so the heavy name stays the only loud voice.
20:00 Palette
Colour by the hour
Each colour is a time of day. Night carries most of the page and the sun colours carry the light.
Night, text, ground
Sun top
Sun middle
Sun base
Wordmark
21:58 Dusk
Light you can follow
After sunset the festival keeps its own sun. Fireworks, glitter and stage lights take over the job.
Photography stays warm and grainy. Every frame has one source of light that the eye finds first.
After dark
The face wears the sun
The same disc, drawn in glitter on a cheek at the front of the crowd. The mark travels from the wall to the skin.
22:20 Rules
Room to breathe
Clear space
Keep one cap height of the wordmark free on every side. Nothing enters the dashed frame.
Smallest size
The full lockup stops at 150 px wide. Below that, use the sun alone, down to 16 px.
22:40 Versions
One mark, six outfits
23:00 Motion
The sun that moves
The mark was built to move. Every animation uses the same three ideas: it rises, it is sliced by sound, it sets.
23:30 Care