Delivering the Look & Feel
of the Arafura Games
The Arafura Games 2019 was multi-sport event held from the 25th April to the 4th May in the city of Darwin, Australia. Supported by the Northern Territory Government, the event was a showcase for the city’s culture, history, trade and investment opportunities and celebrated friendship, goodwill and comradery between competing nations.
The Games saw emerging athletes from primarily the Asia-Pacific region competing from amateur level through to sub-elite competition in 17 sports and across 14 sporting venues.
Working alongside the Organising Committee, our team delivered an extensive Look of the Games programme, ensuring a colourful experience for athletes, fans and everyone involved. Our scope included production, artwork direction and install of signage and strategic wayfinding for all 14 competition venues and 3 non-competition venues (Hub, Darwin Airport & Celebrations Zone) as well as city dressing.
Project Overview
Brand Identity
The Arafura Games and the Territory Brand Guidelines informed the colours, textures, fonts and holding positions used to create the individual brand assets for the Look & Signage Program.
Smart use of the colour palette brought a contemporary vibrancy to the city of Darwin. The application and integration of the brand swirl on site gave the Arafura Games a sense of energy, excitement and movement. The brand developed combining these elements and when utilised across the games in various venues and street dressing, gave the city a strong sense of identity and sporting celebration.
Look & Signage Program
To achieve a coherent and memorable look & feel, we were involved in every step of the process: from design direction and artwork management to procurement and production of wayfinding and signage, to venue install and implementation of digital assets.
As the basis of the Look and Signage Program, our team developed a kit of parts of standard assets. A consistent look & feel across the kit of parts assets was important to ensure a recognisable brand across venues and to maximise brand exposure. The kit of parts included fence scrim, barrier scrim, barrier jackets, feather flags, corrals, table skirts and pop up marquees. Whilst being used in specific venues, these assets were also able to be moved to suit transitions between sports and fields of play.
Additionally, supporting the standard kit of assets, bespoke items were developed to fit with the specifics of each venue or sport. Bespoke items included venue entry banners, hanging banners, specialised equipment decals and sponsor recognition pieces. These items were designed for the function and sport and measured for the location setting.
Alongside implementing an extensive tangible presence, digital assets were used to enhance venues, at the Darwin Airport and at the Darwin Convention Centre. Integrating digital assets proved to be an effective way of bolstering an aligned Look & Feel within venues, as sports presentation assets were displayed during games-time.
Outcome
The 2019 Arafura Games was a tremendous success, with the enhanced environment leading to thousands of fans engaging with the competition. High impact graphics – smartly designed, efficiently produced and strategically placed – contributed significantly to creating an overwhelming sense of sporting occasion across Darwin and improved the experience for athletes, staff, fans and all in attendance.
CSM Live worked brilliantly and portrayed the Look Arafura Games 2019 was aiming for. The team have provided us with a platform to begin the next signage scope with ease along with a benchmark of what an international multi-sport event in Darwin can look like.
If you are interested in learning more or would like to see how we could help you enhance your event please get in touch.
