How do we know where we are? Without a point of origin, we have an incomplete knowledge of progress made and area covered.
Our sense of time and location most likely started with a shadow. A stick in the ground, around which the shadow marked time as the sun moved across the sky. And combining that understanding with geometry, we began to mark our place on Earth.
The relationship between contemporary society and the sun is still the same; only we now use electronic clocks and GPS location tracking. And like ancient societies, we also locate ourselves via narrative.
Beginning in 1978, the Sundance Film Festival — founded by the late Robert Redford, and named after his Sundance Kid character — has consistently highlighted the potential of independent film and voices from outside the mainstream. And in 2021, the now-named Sundance Institute engaged with the School of Visual Arts Masters in Branding program for a rebrand.
Such projects for real-life clients are undertaken with a select group of students in what is known in the program as “Honors.” Since the size of the project required more time than the typical Honors semester, and since it coincided with the tenth anniversary of the program, a select group of alumni were enlisted to initiate the program. Then, selected members of the current student body joined to build out the rebrand.
Alumnus Saloni Soni made the connection between the “dancing of the sun” around a simple stick and establishing one’s place in space and time. From there, the wordmark — with a modified sun over the “d” in “dance” — became the foundation of the visual identity. And it was satisfying to see the metaphor carried over in the Festival’s opening trailer, which used a resonating text from artist Carrie Mae Weems.
Merchandise and other touchpoints expanded upon the “Sundance” with abstract expressions of eclipses, flares, mirages, and other optical effects.