Developing the Visual Identity of Blip the Musical

Here's a few pictures of our first merchandise samples from VistaPrint, featuring the preliminary logo and artwork for Blip the Musical, currently in development for the 2027 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The samples include a T-shirt designs, an embroidered polo, a coffee mug, and a mousepad. They're part of the process of establishing a consistent visual identity for the production.

Blip merchandise samples

Starting with Creative Strategy: Developing a show's identity begins well before designing a logo. The process starts with understanding the story, identifying the intended audience, and determining how best to communicate the show's themes and personality. For Blip, we're developing a science-fiction romantic comedy set in Bonnybridge, Scotland, a community known for its reported UFO sightings. The story revolves around the mysterious appearance of a black monolith and the different ways people respond to something they cannot explain. Our marketing strategy needs to communicate the show's combination of mystery, comedy, romance, and Scottish setting while remaining recognizable to audiences unfamiliar with the story.

Blip coffe mug sample on shelf

Developing the Logo and Artwork: Our preliminary logo incorporates a green radar screen, bold lettering, and a visual reference to the mysterious Blip itself. The design draws on familiar science-fiction imagery while maintaining a playful, theatrical appearance. We're also experimenting with retro comic-book artwork that introduces the characters, setting, and central mystery. This gives us two complementary approaches: a simple, recognizable logo and more detailed illustrations for promotional materials. Both will contribute to the show's identity across posters, festival listings, social media, video, and other marketing applications.

Blip mousepad by keyboard and monitor

Testing the Designs: Ordering merchandise samples is a practical way to evaluate how the artwork reproduces on different materials. The embroidered polo provides an opportunity to examine the logo at a smaller scale, while the T-shirts demonstrate how both the logo and more detailed illustrations work on fabric. The mug and mousepad offer additional examples of the design in everyday applications. These tests help identify potential adjustments to colors, proportions, readability, and overall presentation before finalizing the artwork. The samples also give us an early look at how the show's visual identity might translate into merchandise for the Edinburgh Fringe.

Blip merchandise samples from Vista

Building on Previous Productions:  Over the years, we've developed promotional materials and merchandise for several original musicals, including Eigg, Absurd Hero, and Broadside. Each production has required its own approach to visual design and audience messaging. The new Blip coffee mug has already joined the collection from previous productions, and the mousepad is now in use at the computer where much of the show's development takes place. These are relatively small steps in the overall production process, but establishing a recognizable identity early helps guide marketing decisions as the project moves forward. With the preliminary logo and artwork now taking shape, we'll continue refining the designs alongside the script, music, and production plans for Edinburgh 2027.

Blip accompanist modeling polo

Blip the Musical Some things you just can't explain. Licensed and produced by Viewmark®

#BLiPTheMusical #Viewmark #EdinburghFringe2027 #MusicalTheatre #CreativeStrategy #TheatreMarketing

From Roswell to Bonnybridge: Turning UFOs into a Tourist Attraction

What does a mysterious spacecraft crash in New Mexico have to do with a small Scottish town? Quite a lot, according to Matt, one of the central characters in BLiP the Musical. In July 1947, reports of unusual wreckage discovered near Roswell, New Mexico, sparked what would become one of the world's most enduring UFO mysteries. Nearly 80 years later, Roswell has transformed its extraterrestrial reputation into a thriving tourist attraction, complete with museums, souvenir shops, UFO tours, and plenty of little green men. Our featured video recreates the legendary 1947 spacecraft crash, bringing a little Hollywood-style excitement to the mystery that put Roswell on the map.

But could the same idea work in Scotland? That's exactly what Matt proposes when he arrives at the Bonnybridge Community Hub in BLiP the Musical. Claiming to be a UFO tourism expert from Roswell, Matt has a business proposition: capitalize on Bonnybridge's reputation for unexplained sightings and turn Scotland's own UFO hotspot into an extraterrestrial tourist destination. The locals aren't entirely convinced. After all, they've already got the Falkirk Wheel, historic castles, and plenty of perfectly respectable reasons for tourists to visit. Do they really need flying saucers and alien souvenirs?

Of course, when a mysterious object suddenly appears outside town, Matt's rather ambitious business proposal begins to sound a little less ridiculous. And that's where the fun begins.BLiP the Musical is a new romantic musical comedy set in Bonnybridge, Scotland, where a small town, a mysterious visitor, and an unexplained object challenge everything the locals think they know.

Some things you just can't explain.

🎭 BLiP the Musical. In development for the 2027 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Licensed and produced by Viewmark.

A Comic Book Identity for a Small Scottish Town

I've been working on some high-level creative concepts for BLiP the Musical, and I'm beginning to lean toward a retro comic book-inspired visual identity that brings together the UFO folklore of the Falkirk Triangle, a little Roswell nostalgia, and the unmistakable character of Bonnybridge. These early cover concepts explore that direction, combining vintage science-fiction artwork, bold typography, radar imagery, and familiar Falkirk landmarks with the show's central characters and romantic storyline. The result is a playful contrast between the extraordinary and the everyday. Here's a link to BLiP's creative strategy document.

But BLiP isn't really about flying saucers and aliens. It's about the comedy of bringing all that extraterrestrial excitement to a small Scottish town, where the local community has its own ideas about what to do when something mysterious appears on its doorstep. The comic book aesthetic offers a fun way to capture that spirit while giving the show a distinctive, recognisable brand image across its posters, website, and promotional materials. It's nostalgic, colourful, a little mysterious, and hopefully just enough to make you smile before the curtain even rises. We're still exploring the possibilities, but I think this visual direction is beginning to capture the personality of the show: a romantic musical comedy about an ordinary community caught up in something quite extraordinary. BLiP the Musical, Some things you just can't explain.

BLiP, our first official blog post

A Blip on the Way to Glasgow

I’d been working on an idea for a new musical called Monolith, but the title just wasn’t doing it for me. I liked the story, but something about it hadn’t quite clicked yet. Then, on the train from Edinburgh to Glasgow this August, we passed through the Falkirk council area of Scotland, home to Bonnybridge and its decades-long reputation for UFO sightings.

Falkirk High railway station 

By coincidence, we were headed to Glasgow while the World Pipe Band Championships were underway. Somewhere between Falkirk, the pipers and everything we’d just experienced at the Edinburgh Fringe, the BLiP show finally started coming together.

Monolith became BLiP.

Early BLiP Visual Identity Concept

A mysterious radar signal. A translucent monolith in a field. A skeptical police constable. His daughter. A stranger from Roswell, New Mexico. And, beneath all the UFO madness, a love story about the things in life we simply can’t explain. And suddenly, there it was.

BLiP: A New Musical Comedy
Some things you just can’t explain.