"Round the fringe of the official Festival drama there seems to be a more private enterprise than before... I'm afraid some of us are not going to be often at home during the evenings"




- Robert Kemp, writing about the Edinburgh International Festival in 1948.


In that throwaway comment for a local newspaper, Kemp coined the term 'Edinburgh Fringe', which is now the biggest arts festival in the world.


Fringe theatre has come to mean anything that is produced outside the mainstream.​​​​​​​





Here is some publicity that I have had the privilege of designing for fringe theatre shows.


Some have been performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, others at studio venues throughout the UK.


The challenge is always: how can I condense a show's complex narrative into a punchy design that will stand out in a crowd?




'In Defence Of Kindness'





I created this poster by mashing up scaremongering headlines and this amazing photo from Michelle Daigle:










'We Need To Talk About Bobby (Off EastEnders)'





This show was all about representations of child violence in the media. The publicity found its way onto theatre programmes and printed flyers:










'Things We Chose To Save'





This sci-fi show about memory was promoted heavily online, alongside a printed poster:












'A Pattern Of Bad Behaviour'





Here are two of the many, many images to get the perfect shot:









A reworked poster with a new cast for the show:








If you are interested in a similar design, whether it's for a show or something different, please get in touch! yourpilgrimagedesign@gmail.com :)



Sam Thorogood | Pilgrimage Design

yourpilgrimagedesign@gmail.com