China Now Music Festival rolls out calligraphy-inspired brand design

Produced by the Bard College’s US-China Music Institute in partnership with the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China Now is an annual series of events. The visual identity redesign for this year’s festival was once again led by London-based agency Saboteur. The design system, ‘Musical Characters of China’, utilised calligraphy to express the vibrancy of music showcased at the festival. Saboteur senior designer Nick Wood explains that the identity’s mysterious nature plays on the fact that the festival is introducing pieces composed in collaboration with AI. He adds, “This is a new world, one where the map is yet to be drawn and the boundaries are unclear.”