On-Demand Creativity: Designing for a Film Festival

Al Este International Film Festival is an independent film festival that’s been around since 2009. Born in Nouveau, France, Al Este was brought to Peru to exhibit a different kind of cinema that’s not often shown in commercial venues. Its objective is to spread the cinematographic culture of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America, allowing the strenghtening, integration and dialogue between these two parts of the world.

For the 15th edition of Al Este International Film Festival (2024), the communications team worked with a design agency to define the festival’s new brand. For this edition, the visuals would go with a typography-based ‘minimalistic’ style, opting for bold colors such as pink in association with this year’s concept: a ‘quinceañero’.

Following the new visual guidelines, it was my job to apply them in all the digital and printed materials that would be used in the festival’s communication channels, being them mostly social media.

As an on-call digital content creator, my role was to translate the requirements of the communications team, specifically the social media manager, into a list of designs and video/reel content. My workflow involves breaking down the necessary content into a structured list with detailed specifications for each item, allowing me to tackle them progressively as deadlines approach.

What’s the idea behind this approach? It helps me stay organized while keeping the client informed about the design and editing process. This way, they can review progress and provide feedback as needed. For the Al Este International Film Festival, having worked with them before, I had a good sense of what they would need for this edition. However, since they had undergone a rebranding, it was also my responsibility to familiarize myself with the new brand guidelines and implement them correctly in the design templates.

The idea behind being their "designer on-call" was to give them the flexibility to reach out whenever needed, without a fixed request limit—similar to subscribing to a streaming service for a limited time, but for design. This setup was ideal for them, as festivals often bring last-minute communication needs that weren’t initially accounted for in the content plan. In a different type of contract, these would have incurred additional charges. However, the collaboration between my work and the festival's communications team was seamless, resulting in a cohesive set of designs tailored for their various digital—mainly Instagram—and print communication platforms.

The project resulted in visually distinctive and engaging graphics that aligned seamlessly with the brand’s identity. These designs effectively supported the communications team’s objectives, enhancing messaging clarity and impact. Additionally, they contributed to increased engagement within the brand’s community, strengthening its connection with its audience.