Abu Dhabi Comedy Week

Organised by the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism and Miral in partnership with Live Nation Middle East, Abu Dhabi Comedy Week 2024 was a first for the emirate. 

Bringing together both legends and rising stars of comedy for a week-long series of shows (18–26 May 2024), the event’s aim was to create a new platform for world-class comedy in the UAE.

Creating an identity that really stood out was critical in meeting these challenges. From the outset, KNOW Creative set out to create a solution that:

• Avoided clichéd devices – laughing smiles, microphones etc – and focused on promoting the name itself, above all else 

• Something that both ‘burst out the box’ and stood out,

• Captured the personality and spirit of the event.

• Acted as a unifying and identifiable look for the overall event, yet also enabled each individual performer to be highlighted.

• Had plenty of versatility to it, and that could also become the basis of an accompanying visual language.

• Created a style that could be used again for future editions without ever appearing tired.

First, we hand-drew a unique wordmark identity that – in its letterforms and composition – celebrated casual, ‘forget the rules’ informality and fun. The aim was for the viewer’s eye to always be drawn first to the identity, to really drive home what this event was called.

Secondly, we then used this identity as the basis for a typographic background. Here, elements of the letter shapes appeared on subtle colour contrasts to create an overall pattern that gave all items an energy, vibrancy and – critically – unifying look, no matter what colour combination was deployed. We also deliberately allowed for a ‘free-form’ versatile colour palette, so that the overall style could have multiple, almost endless, variations – yet still be clearly ‘one family’.

This identity-led brand was rounded out with: 

• A bold display font Balfron) for supporting information (performer, date, venue etc).

• ‘Cut-out’ portrait imagery of performers, with a highlight ‘halo’ surround that – by virtue of continuing the main identity’s yellow colour – connected all elements into one.