The Mill Valley Film Festival is presented by the California Film Institution and recently celebrated its 37th year as an annual, non-competitive film festival. We were tasked with developing a festival poster and a set of recognizable assets that could be leveraged across other promotional festival items.

Since previous festival posters featured abstract design, we felt it was important to develop a design that tied directly to the festival experience and was relatable for movie-goers. By creating a vibrant color palette and screen-printing directly onto a substrate that resembled ticket paper, we developed a design that is reminiscent of an old-fashioned ticket but also communicated relevant festival information.

To ensure that the look and feel for the festival was cohesive, we also created a toolkit of design elements that could be used across all touch points. This included a series of festival identifier icons, a bold color palette, and a unique ticket design that could be activated in a variety of ways. We also designed the cover of the festival program, and this was a great opportunity to showcase the flexibility of our design assets and inspire the MVFF team to develop festival items that were visually consistent.