South African Book Fair
Client: The South African Book Fair
Period: 2015
Awards & events
01 — The sneak-peek
Africa's biggest book fair, home in Jozi
For its 2015 Johannesburg debut, the South African Book Fair needed to announce itself as the country's premier book event. BBA Liminal coordinated the event, evolved its identity, and turned Newtown's Turbine Hall into a book lover's paradise for a hundred authors and a city of readers.
02 — The liminal moment
The South African Book Fair brings veteran writers, new novelists and readers together once a year to share the joys of storytelling. In 2015 it came to Johannesburg for the first time — Africa's largest book fair, arriving in South Africa's largest city, and with it the chance to establish itself as the country's premier book event.
BBA Liminal was asked to coordinate the fair and evolve its identity for the moment. We assembled the team to run the event, then evolved the logo to reflect the fair's new spirit and ambitions, drawing on the South African flag and its vibrant palette. The brief was an event and a refreshed look. The deeper task was status: giving the fair an identity and an experience that announced what it had become, and drew a whole city of readers in.
03 — The transformation
An identity that announced its status. We evolved the fair's logo to reflect its new spirit and ambitions, drawing on the iconic South African flag and its vibrant colours, then extended it into a secondary palette across online and printed collateral and exhibition materials — a bold, coherent look carried seamlessly through the whole event.
Tales from Jozi. We turned the Turbine Hall in Newtown into a book lover's paradise: 100 authors, seven publishers from across the continent, 44 new publishers and a dedicated kids' zone. From the clear wayfinding maps and signage to whimsical illustrations marking the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, every detail held the new look.
#DiscoverYourBookself. Believing books shape people and how they see the world, we built an integrated communications idea around that belief — asking well-known South Africans to share the five books that influenced them most. It became a viral moment: 90,000 Twitter impressions in 48 hours from 90 tweets.
04 — The craft
The fair's next chapter.
A flag-inspired identity across collateral and exhibition; the Turbine Hall turned book lover's paradise with wayfinding, signage and Alice in Wonderland illustrations; and the #DiscoverYourBookself idea that went viral.
The event
90,000 Twitter impressions in 48 hours
>100 authors across 40+ events
>44 new publishers
Brand & communications strategy
Facilitation & convening
Signage & wayfinding
Brand identity design
Brand platform development
Positioning & narrative
