{"id":13035,"date":"2025-07-31T16:30:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T09:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/totally-okays-hand-drawn-look-for-crossed-wires-podcast-festival\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T16:30:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T09:30:18","slug":"totally-okays-hand-drawn-look-for-crossed-wires-podcast-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/totally-okays-hand-drawn-look-for-crossed-wires-podcast-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Totally Okay\u2019s hand-drawn look for Crossed Wires podcast festival"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.totallyokay.co.uk\/\">Totally Okay<\/a> has created a \u201cfun and accessible\u201d identity for Sheffield\u2019s podcast festival, Crossed Wires.<\/p>\n<p>Launched in 2024, the festival positions itself as \u201ccelebration of the podcasts you love, the hosts you obsess over, and the stories that stick with you long after your headphones are off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was created by local entrepreneur James O\u2019Hara, podcast producer Dino Sofos, whose company makes shows like <em>Miss Me?<\/em> with Lily Allen and Miquita Oliver, and Alice Levine, the writer, broadcaster and host of one of the world\u2019s most successful podcasts, <em>My Dad Wrote A Porno<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Radio One DJ Greg James joined as creative director this year.<\/p>\n<p>The identity is built around hand-drawn elements, like speech bubbles and a device known as the \u201csquiggle,\u201d which come to life in print and on posters, as well as on-stage visuals and digital channels.<\/p>\n<p>Totally Okay\u2019s identity for the Crossed Wires podcast festival<\/p>\n<p>Levine explains that the podcast world is well-served with industry events that \u201cfeel like conferences.\u201d But that from the start, Crossed Wires was meant to feel very different.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur brief was that this is for listeners and fans of podcasts, and it had to feel really fun and accessible,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPodcasting is obviously quite a solo, insular experience. So we had to put across the idea that this was all your favourite acts in a way you don\u2019t usually get to experience them \u2013 something that felt more like a gathering or a party.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Deakin admits that the initial ideas he presented to the team \u201cwent slightly awry\u201d based on visual metaphors around discussion and tussle, like photos of judo matches and <em>West Side Story<\/em> face-offs.<\/p>\n<p>But in discussions with Levine, he realised the seeds of the identity were already there, in his very earliest explorations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had these initial doddles, which I thought were too unsophisticated to use,\u201d he says. \u201cBut they had this really rough, hand-drawn quality that we ended up keeping throughout the identity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also shared visual references from nostalgic 1990s sweets, like Parma Violets and Refreshers.<\/p>\n<p>Totally Okay\u2019s identity for the Crossed Wires podcast festival<\/p>\n<p>This less slick approach fitted with the Crossed Wires ethos, and its home city, which prides itself on not taking itself too seriously.<\/p>\n<p>Deakin says the design and the production \u2013 wheatpasting posters outside the venues \u2013 worked together to create the desired effect.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was a raw, edgy quality to it all,\u201d Deakin says. \u201cYou have the liveliness of the speech bubbles, and then these dog-eared posters which I think were essential to how things were communicated. It would have felt very different if we\u2019d had these smooth, clean posters, and vector graphics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s Crossed Wires expanded in scope and scale, with more shows at the main venues and a three-day fringe, run by BBC Sounds, which took over the old John Lewis building in Sheffield city centre.<\/p>\n<p>Levine and Deakin were determined to ramp up the identity for year two, doubling down on the graphics and pushing the verbal identity further.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the first year we had to do a lot of education, because live podcasting is a relatively new development,\u201d Levine says. \u201cWe had to explain to people what it was, and why they should come.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt felt like we had more freedom this year, and I wanted the copy to be intriguing \u2013 a bit more of a sense of humour, and a bit less on-the-nose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The writing process centres on \u201ca huge, chaotic Google Doc\u201d and Levine, a comedy writer, says she \u201cfreewheels\u201d by throwing lots of ideas at Deakin to see what sticks.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s lines included \u201cOn stage, off script\u201d and \u201cMeet the voices in your head,\u201d and Deakin says it could be challenging making them work visually, because the identity uses sentence case text.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat adds a problematic element, of having ascenders and descenders that need to fit well together,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>The typeface is <em>Founders Grotesk<\/em> by Klim Type Foundry, while a striking fluorescent green dominated this year\u2019s colour palette, or \u201cthat bloody green\u201d as Levine puts it.<\/p>\n<p>They had to find a specialist screen printer who could create that tone, and there were complications with it working on the wheatpaste posters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a real chore to get that green, but we did, and it looked amazing,\u201d Deakin says. \u201cIts the main thing people commented on, and so it was worth the struggle, because it really lifted up the whole visual language.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The on-stage graphics were another important visual element. The spaces that host Crossed Wires events are very different, from the iconic Crucible theatre to pop-up stages.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe needed something that made it feel like a festival, particularly for those shows which are two chairs on a stage,\u201d Levine says.<\/p>\n<p>The on-stage graphics at Crossed Wires festival, 2024.<\/p>\n<p>At Levine\u2019s urging, Deakin worked with local woodworker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gilesgroverstudio.com\/\">Giles Grover<\/a> to create sculptures that resemble the squiggle and the speech bubble. \u201cI think they\u2019re so beautiful, they way they come out of the stage floor, and seem to float and disappear,\u201d Levine says.<\/p>\n<p>After a few weeks\u2019 respite, the team has already started thinking about the 2026 festival \u2013 Deakin says the jumbled Google Doc for their ideas is back up and running.<\/p>\n<p>They both want to push the designs again next year, without losing the elements of the identity which have worked so well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople say they feel like the event has always been here,\u201d Levine says. \u201cThis visual language looks so embedded, and feels so mature, that it feels like we\u2019ve been an event that\u2019s been running for 20 years, not two.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Totally Okay\u2019s posters for the Crossed Wires podcast festival<br \/>\nTotally Okay\u2019s on-stage graphics for the Crossed Wires podcast festival<br \/>\nAlice Levine and Greg James, wearing the Crossed Wires squiggle on a t-shirt<br \/>\nTotally Okay\u2019s identity for the Crossed Wires podcast festival<br \/>\nTotally Okay\u2019s identity for the Crossed Wires podcast festival<\/p>\n<div>\n<strong>What to read next: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.designweek.co.uk\/rabbitholes-identity-for-leeds-ideas-festival\/\">Rabbithole\u2019s identity for Leeds ideas festival<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designweek.co.uk\/without-creates-new-brand-for-sleepover-airport-nap-pods\/\">Without creates new brand for Sleepover airport nap pods<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designweek.co.uk\/the-team-creates-new-identity-for-pregnancy-and-baby-loss-charity-sands\/\">The Team creates new identity for pregnancy and baby loss charity Sands<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designweek.co.uk\/neighbourhood-app-nextdoor-relaunches-with-new-brand-and-product-design\/\">Neighbourhood app Nextdoor relaunches with new brand and product design<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.designweek.co.uk\/totally-okays-hand-drawn-look-for-crossed-wires-podcast-festival\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Totally Okay has created a \u201cfun and accessible\u201d identity for Sheffield\u2019s podcast festival, Crossed Wires. Launched in 2024, the festival positions itself as \u201ccelebration of the podcasts you love, the hosts you obsess over, and &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[145],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Totally Okay\u2019s hand-drawn look for Crossed Wires podcast festival - Blog TSK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/totally-okays-hand-drawn-look-for-crossed-wires-podcast-festival\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Totally Okay\u2019s hand-drawn look for Crossed Wires podcast festival - Blog TSK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Totally Okay has created a \u201cfun and accessible\u201d identity for Sheffield\u2019s podcast festival, Crossed Wires. 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