Overview:
Creative Cardiff is commissioning four artists to capture what Creative Cardiff means to them by designing a version of Creative Cardiff’s logo to mark our 10th birthday and beyond. This will include use online (website, social media and newsletter), in print (merchandise, posters and flyers) and included in presentations and at events beyond our 10th year.
Dimensions and an outline will be provided by Creative Cardiff, and we are asking artists to work within this outline to produce a digital creative interpretation of the logo to reflect a core pillar of Creative Cardiff’s activity.
The four pillars are Connected, Collaborative, Creative, Cardiff. Definition of these pillars are below, and you must state which of the four pillars your design will represent within your application.
Background:
Creative Cardiff has delivered a number of artistic commissioning activities over the last 10 years. This work has included ‘Our Creative Cardiff’ – a digital storytelling project designed to showcase the city’s creative sector in 2020 – and ‘Our Creative Place’ in 2021, which brought together and developed the narrative of the creative community across the Cardiff Capital Region, in partnership with Arts Council Wales. We also launched a ‘Logo Commission’ in 2023, a Creative Industries Cluster Hubs commission in 2024, funded by Arts Humanities and Research Council and Department for Culture Media and Sport, and, most recently, Greening Cathays commissions in partnership with Cardiff University’s School of Pharmacy.
Collectively, this work supported 62 local artists and put over £80,000 back into the creative community in South Wales, as well as building new partnerships and collaborations.
To mark our 10th birthday in 2025, Creative Cardiff is now seeking to build on the success of this work through delivering a further commissioning opportunity for local artists and creatives and directly connect this to our identity and brand today. This work aims to capture what Creative Cardiff is all about - connecting artists, collaborating with the community and showcasing local creatives.
The commission:
We are seeking to commission a diverse range of creative practitioners working in the city to produce digital work that creatively captures what Creative Cardiff means to them.
We are seeking ideas that work with the logo to either:
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Actively and meaningfully illustrate the city– its venues, its landmarks, its green spaces, its urban architecture – and the people who populate it
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Reflect the identity of Cardiff’s diverse creative communities – both present and future
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Reflect the variety of creative sectors which thrive in the city
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Show what Cardiff’s creativity means to you
We have four commissions available, one to digitally represent each of the below activity pillars for Creative Cardiff:
- Commission 1: Connected: Creative Cardiff connects creatives from a range of sectors and disciplines, both online and in-person.
- Commission 2: Collaborative: We collaborate with industry, business, government and academia to encourage new ideas which could support and grow the sector.
- Commission 3: Creative: At our core, we are a grassroots network – we are for, and with, the city’s creative community. We exist to bring creatives together from across the Cardiff region and to tell Cardiff’s creative story .
- Commission 4: Cardiff: As a place-based network, Cardiff and the region’s* people, spaces and language are deeply rooted into all that we do.
*The Cardiff region includes ten local authority areas covering South East Wales. These are Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire, Newport, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Torfaen and Vale of Glamorgan.
Commissioned works will help develop and shape our identity and brand, and how we connect to the creatives on our network.
What will happen to the designs:
Each design will be shared at events to mark our 10th birthday on our website, in our newsletter and across social media channels. Designs may also be printed on merchandise and flyers.
Creative Cardiff would like to use these designs beyond our 10th year, to help illustrate, communicate and define our activity going forward. After artists have been selected, duration of use will be formally agreed between the artist and Creative Cardiff.
We would also like to celebrate and promote the artists who have been successful in this commission, by sharing spotlight interviews with the artists, social media content and inviting the artists to our 10th birthday celebration activity.
Format:
The creative output for commissioned artists should be predominantly visual in scope and provided in a digital format.
As well as your logo design, we’d like a small-scale brand pack to accompany your design:
These should be-
8-10 Simple Vector-Based Assets / PNG Clipart Elements
- High resolution illustrated or digital illustrated elements
- Consistent visual language within your chosen Creative Cardiff pillar in your style
- Formats suitable for web, print and social media use (e.g., transparent PNGs, SVGs)
- Visuals that complement Creative Cardiff’s existing brand and assets (Creative Cardiff brand pack will be shared with successful artists before design work begins)
Two examples of what your element pack could look like.
Works should take into consideration Creative Cardiff’s brand identity.
Application process:
We are asking applicants to send us a short application, answering the following questions:
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Tell us about your work, with examples or links to previous work, e.g. website or portfolio (300 words maximum)
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Tell us about your idea and how it relates to Creative Cardiff, and one of our pillars (Connected, Collaborative, Creative or Cardiff) (500 words maximum)
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If you can, please provide two references who we can contact to ask them about your work, or if preferred- please share your social media handles
We particularly encourage applications from emerging creatives and graduates and those who live outside of Cardiff, across the wider region.
Please send your applications to creativecardiff@cardiff.ac.uk with the subject line ‘Commission (1, 2, 3 or 4 – based on the pillar you’ve selected): Creative Cardiff Birthday Commission’ by Tuesday, 1 July 12 noon.
We also welcome video or audio applications and applications in the Welsh language. Please send any video or audio applications as a link to creativecardiff@cardiff.ac.uk.
Timeline:
|
Activity |
Deadline |
|
Deadline for submissions |
1 July 2025 |
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Successful artists notified |
mid July 2025 |
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Designs completed by |
29 August 2025 |
|
Designs shared formally |
Autumn 2025 |