Ad Black Sea 2026 Identity

Sep 28

2 min read

Ad Black Sea is an international festival of creativity, bringing together advertising, design, digital, technology, and the wider creative industry in Batumi, Georgia. Founded in 2015, the festival was created with a simple ambition: to put Georgia on the international creative map and build a platform where local and international creative communities could meet, exchange ideas, and challenge each other.

ABOUT THE PROJECT:

In 2026, Ad Black Sea celebrated its 10th anniversary under the theme ON THE EDGE - Festival of Creative Resistance. The three-day festival brought together leading international creatives, designers, artists, agencies, brands, and young professionals for talks, workshops, networking, and an international creative competition.

DEFINING THE PROJECT CONTEXT

The festival freshens up its identity for every edition. Ad Black Sea 2026 concept has many layers. On one level, On the Edge is a manifesto exploring creativity at its limits across various contexts.

Apart from that, we wanted to echo the world's feeling of living in transformative times, anticipating big changes - good or bad - that we all share.

But above all, "On the Edge" perfectly describes the festival. Located on Europe's edge, it serves as creatives' local "New Year" - a time for maximum inspiration, fun, and boundary-pushing.

Hence, this year's visual identity is essentially a tutorial on how to live and function on the edge: resisting Batumi's weather, partying hard yet making it to the first seminar, and staying sharp and focused despite the overwhelming hedonism.

This idea of the tutorial style “How to Ad Black Sea” became the inspiration of the visual system that was created as an extension of the concept, turning the idea of the edge into something that could live across the festival’s communication, digital platforms, environmental graphics, stage, and physical experience.