Electron Festival — Branding , campaign , digital by twks: Branding Under Pressure

Services: Branding; Campaign; Digital
Industries: Arts & Culture

In 2014, Electron entrusted TWKS with the visual communication for an edition that would leave a lasting mark on the festival’s history. The campaign became a real statement piece, earning multiple awards, including recognition from the ADC, and attracting media coverage far beyond Switzerland.

Ten years later, our paths cross once again. To open its third decade, Electron chose to return to where it all began: the underground warehouses of Detroit, the birthplace of electronic music. These raw industrial spaces, known as the Blocks, were where a new culture emerged long before it became a global movement. That legacy became the starting point for a new visual identity.

One Scene, Every Tribe

In the early 1980s, a handful of pioneers in Detroit were throwing parties in abandoned warehouses and secret locations. Raw industrial spaces hidden among concrete blocks, where the music did far more than echo. It created a community. For this new edition, Electron isn’t trying to recreate that history. Instead, it reconnects with the energy that made it possible.

Before the Clubs, There Were the Blocks

Pumped Up

The expression became the starting point for the entire identity. Pumped Up is energy at its peak. The energy of a scene that never stops moving. The energy of a festival that brings every corner of electronic culture together under one banner. We translated that intensity into form. The Blocks became inflatable volumes. Shapes gain depth and appear filled with air, as if pushed outward by the bass itself. Every element feels alive, ready to bounce, pulse or burst. The rigidity of concrete gives way to a playful, tactile aesthetic. Acid-bright colours, glossy volumes, plastic textures and modular compositions create a visual language that is instantly recognisable.

A Rave in Volume

The visual language draws as much inspiration from inflatable objects as it does from 1990s digital interfaces, plastic toys, pictograms and industrial design. Every poster is built as a modular composition. Information stacks, compresses and responds to itself. Typography becomes an object. Icons become sculptural forms. Saturated colours amplify the feeling of constant energy. The graphic system is designed as a playground. It can accommodate an artist, an exhibition, a talk or a club night while always retaining the same unmistakable personality.

Result

A visual identity that looks back to Detroit’s origins without slipping into nostalgia. A graphic system capable of living with the same intensity across posters, digital campaigns, scenography and social media. Ten years after our first collaboration, Electron returns with an identity as bold as its programme. A visual identity Pumped Up, recognised with a Grand Prix Romand de la Création 2024.

2024 Edition