We recently had the pleasure of working on a unique and exciting project, aimed to celebrate and promote Maltese culture and traditions. Our team, together with Daniel Cauchi as an artistic director conceptualised a three day event, ‘il-Festa tal-Festi’; a grand celebration of all things Maltese Festa related. Il-Festa tal-Festi aimed to raise awareness about Maltese feasts, a traditional celebration that holds deep roots in Maltese culture, with the primary aim of raising funds towards the Malta Community Chest Fund.
The event took place at the beautiful Verdala Palace from Friday 28th April to Sunday 30th April. Il-Festa tal-Festi included various activities, such as educational activities for primary school children, a traditional Maltese festa dinner, as well as live entertainment and music, a mass, and a traditional morning march with the participation of various bands. Il-Festa tal-Festi brought together 9 different band clubs from all over the island, and had the support of over 200 volunteers who worked tiressely to ensure the success of the event. The activities were designed to showcase Maltese culture and traditions and to raise awareness among locals and visitors alike.
As the creative studio behind ‘il-Festa tal-Festi’, we at Ponder and Pitch played a crucial role in the design and implementation of a range of materials that helped to bring the event to life. Il-Festa tal-Festi is an event about evolution – with a fresh perspective; it’s about bringing people closer to Maltese feasts and interpreting them in a new, contemporary way. To carefully capture the essence of the event, we approached the design of il-Festa tal-Festi’s visual identity with this in mind. Our goal was to create a strong identity to communicate its key message of modernizing traditional feasts. We carefully crafted a branding style that is vibrant, colourful, and traditional using a combination of minimal yet playful elements. This is reflected in our choice to focus on primary colours: red, blue, green and yellow, to pay tribute to traditional Maltese signs and signage throughout the decades. These colours are most commonly used during feasts, and are still prominent in Maltese culture, therefore they not only help to create a cohesive visual identity but also to reinforce the traditional values and heritage associated with Maltese feasts. To create a brand style that is both modern yet rooted in Maltese tradition, we took a contemporary approach to traditional elements such as statues and fireworks, which are synonymous with Maltese feasts. Our main artwork represents the evolution of these traditional elements in a fresh and contemporary style, while still retaining their cultural significance. By creating this balance between tradition and modernity, we were able to create a visual identity that not only captures the essence of il-Festa tal-Festi but also resonates with a modern audience.
This branding style was applied across a range of materials including digital and print assets such as social media posts and billboards. The billboard was one particular highlight that we designed, put up in order to ensure maximum visibility and exposure for Il-Festa tal-Festi. The billboard prominently featured our eye catching main artwork, in order to catch the attention of passersby, with its focus on bright primary colours. By showcasing our main artwork in a large and public format, we were able to effectively generate buzz and excitement for the event.
Apart from the physical materials, as Ponder and Pitch, we were also responsible for developing a social media strategy to encourage people to attend and build excitement in the lead-up to the festival.
The team also designed a booklet distributed to 40,000 primary school children. The booklet was filled with information about the traditional Maltese festa, including facts on feasts, a calendar of upcoming feasts, rhymes, activities, and games. The booklet was designed to be engaging and interactive, to raise awareness among children about the Maltese feasts.
