RTÉ Road to the Rising

RTÉ Road to the Rising is an exploration of the society, ideas and culture of Ireland before the revolutionary events of the Easter Rising of 1916. Hosted by RTÉ on Easter Monday 2015 the event saw nearly 100,000 people descend on a pedestrianised O’Connell street for free activities across art, literature, music, film and debate.

The visual identity draws on elements of print ephemera from the period, using large clear type in simple blocks. The main Road to the Rising logotype was based on letterforms found in the 1916 Proclamation of Ireland. The colours and gradients were based on Irish sunrises, a simple and effective way of evoking the idea of the ‘dawn of a new nation’, while also steering clear of any political associations.

The identity needed to work across print, screen and web (the website has unfortunately been decommissioned). Strong typography combining the modern and sharp GT Sectra with the contemporaneous Akzidenz Grotesk helped keep the identity cohesive across a wide range of media, while allowing opportunities for typographic flourishes such as the period for the St. abbreviation.