Ivan Cankar was a Slovene writer, playwright, essayist, poet and political activist. He is considered as the beginner of Modernism in Slovene literature and is regarded as the greatest writer in the Slovene literature. Cankar was, in his lifetime, very close to the city of Trieste. In the city he spent a lot of time: for work, for pleasure trips, or to hold political meetings and talks.
In 2018, the centenary of Ivan Cankar's death (December 11th, 1918) takes place. On this occasion a few Slovenian institutions in Italy planned a special event and, under the coordination of the Slovenian Cultural and Economic Association, they conceived a series of cultural events to take place in different locations throughout the whole year 2018, entitled 'Cankarjevo Leto v Trstu' (meaning: Cankar's year in Trieste).
I designed the visual identity for this anniversary celebration. The design concept rotates around the pretty recognizable and typical writer's moustache. I added — with a pinch of irony — a fresh touch to Cankar's 'old-and-grey' popular immaginary by evoking and playing with this 'pretty-genuine-hipster' moustache element. The diagonally mounted mustaches and a diethering of shapes give, through the design, the impression of moving. This evokes, symbolically, the strong winds of the 'Burja' (a wild wind, typical and very frequent in the city of Trieste). Wind recalled also by a graphic illustration that reminds and take inspiration both of a Wind Rose and of a Catherine Wind Wheel. The gold-color gives, at the end, the whole design some jubilee, elegant touch.
A set of two posters, two postcards, a moleskine and an info-card were printed and realized in May 2018. Here is a link with more informations about the event, and here is another one featuring the video of the event presentation conference.