The Dynamic and Innovative Visual Identity of DEMO Festival 2025
Designer: Studio Dumbar/DEPT®
Scope: Visual Identity
Client: DEMO Festival 2025
DEMO Festival returned for its third edition with remarkable success. On January 30, 2025, hundreds of digital screens across 15 cities in seven countries—Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Tilburg, Eindhoven, Utrecht, Antwerp, Brussels, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Cardiff, Leeds, Madrid, Barcelona, Vancouver, and Los Angeles—transformed into a global stage for cutting-edge motion design. For 24 hours, these screens—typically reserved for advertising—showcased works from over 350 leading designers representing more than 50 countries. With millions of passersby engaging with the displays, the festival once again solidified its reputation as the world’s largest motion design event. DEMO Festival 2025 is an initiative by Studio Dumbar/DEPT®, in collaboration with Global, blowUP media, adtrackmedia, and StandardVision. The showcased works spanned a diverse range of styles and techniques, reflecting the latest trends in motion design. Each piece lasted ten seconds and was categorized into nine distinct themes: On the Move, Zeros and Ones, Frogs, Fruits and Flowers, Abstract Distractions, Happy Hour, Type Only, Picture This, IRL, and Radiant Gradients.
Beyond its impressive concept, the festival’s visual identity—crafted by Studio Dumbar/DEPT®—stood out with its spatial, dynamic typography, embodying the essence of motion design. Grafis Masa Kini had the opportunity to take a closer look at this visual identity through exclusive assets from Studio Dumbar/DEPT®. On its official website, Studio Dumbar/DEPT® explains that the identity was designed with a focus on bringing motion design into public spaces. Large-format digital billboards, usually reserved for commercial advertisements, served as the perfect canvas for DEMO Festival’s branding. The festival invites interaction from the public, transforming passersby into an active audience engaging with the movement of design. “We aimed to reflect the innovative spirit and creative potential of motion design across all touchpoints—from the identity and website to promotional trailers and the main event,” Studio Dumbar/DEPT® states. The studio further elaborates that the festival’s visual identity is built around a variable typeface, whose form shifts based on a custom-developed script. Each word entered into this script generates its own unique animated character, creating a dynamic and interactive visual experience. One of the identity’s most distinctive features is its adaptability to user interaction on the festival’s website, where the DEMO logo can be freely distorted simply by moving the cursor, offering visitors an engaging and exploratory experience.
This year’s festival identity design took another bold step, fully embracing its growing international presence. A playful, distorted globe emerged as a key visual element, seamlessly blending into the festival’s motion identity. While the DEMO logo and typography remained at the core, the brand color evolved once again to complete the RGB spectrum—blue for DEMO25, green for ‘22, and red for ‘19. For those unable to experience the festival in person, all motion works were made accessible through DEMOVERSE, an online platform developed in collaboration with VLGE, featuring 10 immersive 3D worlds inhabited by animated DEMO letters. The festival’s merchandise lineup also expanded, introducing a custom DEMO jersey designed in partnership with Macron. Sound design played a crucial role in shaping this year’s experience, with the team crafting a contrast between ethereal, atmospheric tones and striking, high-impact elements. A rich sound library was developed directly responding to motion tests, further refining the festival’s sonic identity. This year’s approach pushed boundaries, delivering a more expansive, daring, and experimental vision influenced by IDM, ambient, and hardcore music genres.
The visual identity of DEMO Festival successfully captures the essence of design in motion. With essential yet powerful elements—typography, layout, and color—Studio Dumbar/DEPT® breathes life into the design, making it fluid and responsive to its surrounding space. This identity is remarkably flexible, extending boldly into public environments and adapting seamlessly to unconventional screen formats. Moreover, the design approach reflects the festival’s mission of embedding motion design into everyday life—not confined to creative industry screens but integrated into urban landscapes, becoming part of the city’s pulse. Studio Dumbar/DEPT® has thus redefined motion design, pushing it beyond the boundaries of static visuals and transforming it into an adaptive medium that interacts with its audience in real time, fostering an immersive experience.
Showcased on large-scale digital screens in cities worldwide, DEMO Festival’s identity stands as a dynamic and responsive visual experience—both in digital and physical spaces—engaging audiences on a global scale. Its ability to communicate the festival’s core vision—an inspiring exploration of motion design—solidifies it as a prime example of how visual identity can be an integral part of an event, rather than merely an aesthetic component.
