Every year, Pentagram reinvents the Film Independent brand identity in unique and surprising ways for the Film Independent Spirit Awards, the annual ceremony honoring the best in independent film. Following a 2021 ceremony that was entirely virtual, the 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards, presented in March 2022, brought the event back to its signature tents on Santa Monica Pier. Emily Oberman and team created an identity design and motion graphics package that celebrated the show returning live and in person with a splash of vibrant color.

A little celebration was welcome as the world continued to emerge from the pandemic lockdowns and people were starting to enjoy getting back together again. The 2022 ceremony was hosted by the comedic duo of Megan Mullaly and Nick Offerman, and the big winner was Maggie Gyllenhaal’s revelatory “The Lost Daughter,” which took home Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay.

With the return to the tent, the Pentagram team looked to the endlessly evolving beauty of the beach for inspiration. The rolling waves, ocean breezes and vivid sunsets lent themselves to an abstract, modern treatment that feels light-hearted and positive, mixing joyful color, bold type and free-flowing animation.

Each sequence comes to life as the graphics morph and change with a swirling, dream-like quality that evokes light and reflections on and in water—or images shining through celluloid film. Typography interacts with the fluid animation, surfacing and coming into focus, while macro moments enlarge the letterforms into soft, abstract geometric shapes with a glassy, transparent quality. The dynamic sense of movement was matched by the identity’s most vibrant color palette yet, rippling and reflecting through the graphics in a spectrum of unusual pairings. 

As in the past, the show packaging and graphics were integrated into every aspect of the ceremony. The team created the hero logo animation, an opening sequence for the show, and title packages for all 23 categories, as well as a series of ambient stage loops, lower thirds, transitions, framing devices and a program book. 

Previously: 2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards, 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards, 2019 Film Independent Spirit Awards, 2018 Film Independent Spirit Awards, 2017 Film Independent Spirit Awards, 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards, 2015 Film Independent Spirit Awards.