From Our Executive Director:
We are thrilled to share—at long last!—the new brand identity for the San Antonio Book Festival. Designed by the illustrious design studio, Pentagram, this look is vibrant, inventive, inspiring, and FUN…everything we aim to continue to be as we go forth in our second decade.
This brand design has been in the works since last year (2022) when we celebrated our 10th anniversary. As we approached that milestone, we reflected on how much SABF had grown in its first 10 years. Our programming had expanded tremendously since our inception, from the Get Lit Author Series to our educational initiative, Authors in Schools. The Book Appétit Literary Feast, our singular fundraising event, had earned its spot among the city’s must-attend luncheons. And we continued to be creative throughout the years with our Festival weekend programming, adding The Moth, Lit Crawl, and more recently, Lit Happens. In 2020, SABF became its own independent nonprofit, no longer affiliated with a parent organization. We needed an updated brand identity that would honor our growth and unify all of SABF’s programs under a family of logos.
Enter Pentagram! From the start, the brilliant Pentagram team understood what we were trying to accomplish. They did a deep dive into the landscape of festival logos and presented options that went in wildly different directions. Ultimately our SABF Board marketing committee selected the typographic option that drew on inspiration from 1930s Mexican typeface.
“San Antonio’s rich history and heritage inspired the new logo for the city’s world-class book festival,” DJ Stout, our lead designer and Partner at the Austin Pentagram office, shared with me. “For a celebration of books and literature, it was only natural to create a wordmark informed by the geometric typography and vibrant colors of Mexico’s 30s era Art Moderne movement.”
I’m incredibly proud of this brand identity. I love the colors and the lively energy it conveys. I love how it still evokes the rich, dynamic culture of San Antonio. When I look at the new wordmark, I think of the lines of the Central Library architecture; Pentagram really thought of everything. I’m excited by the opportunities the logos present to play with video and animation. It’s similar to the excitement I feel about SABF’s future growth. It’s a new era, y’all. I’m happy you’re a part of it with us.
Huge thanks to the Pentagram design team who worked hard on this, our SABF board marketing committee for their input, and a very special thank you to the rose window logo that served us well the past 11 years. Cheers to SABF!
Lilly Gonzalez
