Wild in Art

Wild in Art – the team behind the award-winning Bee in the City – were looking for an agency to develop an event name and dynamic brand identity flexible enough to span a variety of digital and print marketing materials. The concept needed to link to the city and culture of Manchester, giving a local flavour to the event, without it being parochial or too retrospective.

Widely regarded as the capital of music in the UK, Manchester’s music heritage is ingrained into the city’s streets, buildings and public spaces. In summer 2025, a programme of music events would take centre stage as an estimated 1.3 million music tourists would join Mancunians to attend festivals, concerts, and gigs at legendary venues, both large and small, across the city.

To join up events and activations during the summer, Wild in Art (WiA) – working with Manchester City Council – wanted to take over the streets and create a new large-scale music-themed public art trail to celebrate the summer of music. With a nod to the city’s musical heritage, the event needed to be firmly connected to the present, with creativity, art and music at the heart of the concept.

Working within the framework WiA provided; brand values of inspiring, fun, exciting, engaging, accessible and unmissable, and a brand personality of celebratory, cool, sociable, inquisitive, fun and friendly, we allowed it to directly inform the naming of the event.

Music for the Senses: an art arrangement for a musical city.

We wanted to emphasise the fact that the art trail would touch human senses beyond to hear. The fact the event was wonderfully curated and so well-orchestrated also inspired our approach to the name. A flexible brand identity drew inspiration from all things musical, but more specifically the iconic guitar. We wanted to capture the essence of what makes Manchester, Manchester – creating something bespoke to reflect the city’s highly independent vibrant music scene.

As a group of music fanatics, who regularly attend gigs, we fully appreciate the form of the guitar, along with the fabric of the music venues that make Manchester such a special destination for gig goers. To create a bespoke typeface that was unique and instantly recognisable, we merged the guitar fretboard with the stonework of the buildings. The colour palette was vibrant, and other music references such as sound equalisers and iconic band and venue poster artwork informed the wider brand toolkit – one easily implemented across a range of digital and print applications.

The art trail showcases new artworks, including decorated, painted and sculpted guitars displayed in shop windows and venues. On King Street, Manchester artist Lazerian created Guitar Street – an interactive installation made from donated guitars, each featuring the stencilled face of a young, up-and-coming music artist from the city. You can also step inside Lazerian’s Cathedral of Sound – a show stopping installation built from hundreds of reclaimed acoustic guitars, reimagined into a living, breathing sanctuary of sound.

Commissioned murals and mosaics – created by international street artists Lei Mai LeMaow, Nomad Clan, .EPOD and AKSE P19 – complement existing artworks. The trail tells the story of Manchester music, bringing together iconic music venues along with lesser-known music places and spaces, linking existing music-themed art and music points of interest. The visual identity needed to work especially hard as a form of signposting to highlight and unite the raft of artworks distributed around the city.

48 guitars – donated by the public – were painted or adorned by professional artists, turning them into individual artworks. Precious instruments were donated by musicians including Pixies, New Order, Oasis, PINS, and Elbow. When the art trail concluded, all guitar artworks were displayed in a celebratory exhibition at the People’s History Museum. As well as giving visitors the opportunity to view all artist decorated guitars in a single space, they could also enjoy the Art Fair; live music celebrating Manchester’s grassroots music scene, live painting, official merchandise, and more.

Over 50 guitars from Music for the Senses went under the hammer at Hallé St Peter’s to raise money for the Forever Manchester Grassroots Music Fund. The £35k fund raised will give grassroots artists from the region the opportunity to apply for much-needed financial support with ever rising touring costs, from transport, to promotion, and paying their fellow musicians.

Photography: David Oates