SA Book Fair

Arts & CultureAwards & EventsEducationSustainable Development

Jul 22

Building a reading nation

The South African Book Fair is an annual event where veteran writers, budding novelists and readers can come together once a year to discover the endless joys of storytelling, together.

The brief

Johannesburg played host to the 2015 South African Book Fair in truly spectacular Jozi fashion. To mark the debut of Africa’s largest book fair in South Africa’s largest city for the first time, we marked the occasion by transforming the Turbine Hall in Newtown into a book lover’s paradise.

First up, we had to put together a stellar team to coordinate the entire event. We then turned our focus to the logo identity, evolving it to reflect the new spirit and brand aspirations of SA Book Fair. To establish the fair’s newly formed status as South Africa’s premier book event, we drew inspiration from the iconic South African flag and its vibrant colour palette.

The newly formed logo identity was then extended into a secondary palette for online and printed collateral, as well as exhibition materials. From the minimalist clarity of the way-finding maps and signage to the delightfully whimsical illustrations to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice in Wonderland – each aspect of the event reflected the bold new look, seamlessly.

The transformation

#DiscoverYourBookself

The 2015 integrated communication campaign was inspired by the belief that books play a crucial role in shaping people and their world views. We asked well-known South Africans to tweet the top five books that have had the most significant influence on their lives.

Tales from Jozi

To host a spectacular event in true Jozi style, we transformed the Turbine Hall in Newtown into a book lover’s paradise featuring 100 authors, seven publishers from across the continent, 44 smaller new publishers and even a dedicated kid’s zone.