Cavalcade of Lights is an annual winter tradition in Toronto. It kicks off the holiday season at City Hall with the lighting of the giant Christmas Tree in Nathan Philips Square along with a concert with various musical talents from Toronto and ends off in a spectacular fireworks display set off from the roof of City Hall. Millions of Torontonians partake in the event every year.
For the 2010 event, I was asked to help create a more visually appealing identity for Cavalcade of Lights. The event has been around for over 25 years and the Special Events team at the City were looking to update the look of the identity.
Working with a wordmark which had already been approved, my task was to create a visual image that created a sense of celebration, joy and excitement. What we ended up with was a cascade of lights in festive colours. The Team was able to use the wordmark with or without the cascade depending on their needs. On the eve of the event, it was great to see the visual element used throughout the square as it had a real impact on the identity of the event.
Our department produces large scale public festivals and events for the City of Toronto. We’ve worked with BFdesign on a variety of projects, from making films that boost our social media outreach, to the creation of visual and innovative brand identities that really make our event products POP! It’s always a pleasure working with Blair – he consistently delivers creative work on time and on budget, and has become one of our most trusted ‘go to’ suppliers.
Giannina Warren, Media Relations, Economic Development & Culture
Creative Trust
Creative Trust is an arts service organization based in Toronto which, as they say, “using collaboration and shared learning to help performing arts companies.” I have worked with the Creative Trust in various capacities in the past, presenting a workshop on social media for their members and collaborating on workshops while I worked at the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts.
The Creative Trust has had the same website since its inception many years ago and it was time for a refresh. The focus of the organization is shifting and they wanted to refresh the look of the site as well as provide a section for resources along with a more dynamic blog to keep everyone abreast of events and changes in the sector.
The Team and I worked on creating a new clean and aesthetically pleasing site which would also allow them to update the content on their own (a much needed feature). After a couple of months working together, we were able to launch the new site in January and it has been a great success for all involved.