The City of Sydney decks the streets with a newly launched colourful Christmas campaign via HOLT
The City of Sydney local government area has rolled out the third year of its evolving Christmas brand created by local design studio, HOLT. Set to run throughout December, the campaign will span the spectrum of outdoor, digital and print media.
The creative centres on the familiar lines of a triangular, tree shaped motif. The ‘Christmas tree’ identity is designed of hundreds of smaller triangles in a myriad of jewel-like tones, creating a colourful, kaleidoscopic effect. As though in flux from a gust of wind, small ‘leaves’ of colour are blown from the tree shape, into its surrounds. This year, these scattering leaves are featured further with the use of cut outs in some outdoor executions.
The design, focusing on the movement created by wind, is informed by the famous woodcut Travellers Caught in a Sudden breeze at Ejiri by 19th Century Japanese print-maker and artist Hokusai, and Jeff Wall’s contemporary photographic interpretation of this work, A Sudden Gust of Wind.
The use of a palette of more the 350 individual colours for the campaign is intended to 
create a positive and joyful emotional response to being within the urban landscape of inner-Sydney and the CBD at this time of year. HOLT has used Outsiders, a contemporary slab serif font designed by Henrik Kubel at A2 Type foundry in London, to realise the ‘Happy Christmas’ messaging in identity.
Says Christopher Holt, creative director, Holt: “Seeing the Christmas creative be given fresh life across new executions over a number of years has been very satisfying. The fun part for us is that the campaign truly takes over the City, and in a subtly different way each year.”
The campaign, which represents the commercial activations and community celebrations of the 
2016 Christmas period in Sydney, has rolled out with outdoor, print media and digital executions, along with retail, precinct and event activations.
2 Comments
”The design, focusing on the movement created by wind, is informed by the famous woodcut Travellers Caught in a Sudden breeze at Ejiri by 19th Century Japanese print-maker and artist Hokusai, and Jeff Wall’s contemporary photographic interpretation of this work, A Sudden Gust of Wind.”
I’ve truly heard it all now.
What has it got to do with Christmas? A tree?
Sure, but Christmas is a Christian festival and should be acknowledged as such.
Is the City of Sydney’s demonic hatred of Christians and their religion behind this? When they issued an RFP for the next 3 years Xmas theming, they avoided any mention of what the season is about there too. Religious intolerance is conduct unbecoming of a major city’s council.