From literature and theatre to music and art, women remain underrepresented, undervalued and often invisible. This year, in response to the issue of gender inequality in the arts, a new festival was born. La Genia features everything from concerts and monologues, to performance and poetry recitals. The one thing these artists have in common? They are all women. We were commissioned to develop the graphic campaign and highlight the overarching aim of the festival: to make women visible in the art world.
La Genia is an event with a clear gender perspective. The name was chosen to highlight the fight against gender inequality, recognising and claiming the word “Genia” in the feminine form to shine a spotlight on female artists. After all, why is being a ‘genius’ still so gendered?
Promoted by the Programa Municipal de la Dona and held in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, the first edition featured a total of 11 performances by artists, including Amparo Sánchez (Amparanoia), singer-songwriter Marta Gómez, Queralt Lahoz, Rebeca Jiménez and the poet Alejandra Martínez de Miguel. Marta Hesse presented the book Malas Mujeres and Ana Polo performed a monologue. In addition, the public were able to enjoy a range of music genres from rap by Zeidah to flamenco by the Flamencas company.
For the graphic campaign, we wanted to reflect on the diversity of the event and acknowledge the subtle nuances of women’s individual experiences and identities. Careful to avoid stereotypical imagery, our proposal was to create a unique letter “G” to personify each of the artists that make up the programme. Each a “genius” in her own right, we would need multiple Gs for their multiple personalities.
Inspired by the Genie in Disney’s Aladdin —an enigmatic figure with frenetic energy and superpowers who levitates into the air, his form mutating into different shapes and characters–- we developed a series of Gs, radiating with a psychedelic “glow.” Nebulous and fluid, these distinct silhouettes or “Genies” emanate with a neon pink or pink-and-purple gradient effect created from a range of acidic Pantones.
The graphic campaign was designed principally for Instagram (feed and stories) as well as a promotional poster. We opted for a balanced layout with the “Genie” taking centre stage and the line-up information overlapping it from opposing sides. The amorphous nature and smooth curves of each “G” contrasts dramatically with Suisse Int’l Book, a classic sans serif font we chose in various sizes and weights for its functional and egalitarian form.
