Universally Manchester
A 200th birthday celebration like no other
Universally Manchester
Illustration
Art Direction
Animation
Web Design
Client: University of Manchester
Website: Universally Manchester
Collaborators: Sundae Communications
Photography: Jody Hartley
In 2024 The University of Manchester celebrated its bicentenary summer with the Universally Manchester Festival, a 200th birthday celebration like no other, with 150 free events across four captivating days. To commemorate the occasion, we partnered with the University of Manchester and Sundae Communications to design and produce artworks for the festival’s open air gallery of celebratory art, entitled ‘Universally Manchester: Where Great Things Come Together’.
Spanning across 130 sites across the city centre, the gallery showcased collaborations with a host of renowned figures who all have ties to Manchester and the University. Reflecting on their love for the city and its long-lasting influence on their endeavours; contributors included award winning author and Professor of Creative Writing Jeanette Winterson, and poet and former Chancellor Lemn Sissay, alongside alumni including drag performer Cheddar Gorgeous, comedian Josh Widdicombe, actor Matthew Horne and barrister and broadcaster Rob Rinder.
The campaign was prominent across the city, utilising digital screens, 96 and 48 sheets and painted murals in Mayfield Park. The project also delivered social content, including the mural in development and an animated reel voiced by Cheddar Gorgeous.
The project offered a rare opportunity to really meditate on the influence that Manchester and the University has had on people who greatly inspire us, as well as the personal ties we each have to the city as Manchester-based designers. The creative challenge of breathing life into the brilliant words of beloved personalities who share our admiration for the city brought an added depth of meaning to the process and outcomes of the artworks.
While each of us at Instruct produced our own interpretations of the quotes supplied, the variety of creative styles and approaches to the brief fluidly interconnected to form a larger picture of an inclusive celebration of Manchester’s enduring influence.
Manchester is a city of firsts, from the first free public library to splitting the atom we have always had an air of invention and creativity which is truly inspirational. Lemn Sissay’s words sum up the courage of the city to dream bigger and to create amazing things together.
