Laurel Studio
Design festival laurels filmmakers are proud to display.
Prefer to watch? The full tutorial is above. The written walkthrough follows.
What you’ll accomplish
- Open Laurel Studio from your festival's organizer dashboard.
- Start from a laurel style and make it yours — festival name, year, and award tiers.
- Fine-tune the wording and finish so every tier reads clearly.
- Preview against a sample film, then publish to your festival's laurel set.
Step by step
- 1
Open Laurel Studio
From your organizer dashboard, open the festival you're working on and select Laurel Studio in the sidebar. The Studio opens with a live laurel canvas on one side and your controls on the other — every change you make renders instantly.
- 2
Pick a starting style
Choose the laurel style that fits your festival's personality. This sets the wreath shape and overall look; you'll layer your own text and finish on top of it. You can switch styles at any time without losing your text.
- 3
Add your festival's details
Enter your festival name and the edition year, then set up your award tiers — Official Selection, Finalist, Winner, and any category-specific awards you hand out. This is the text filmmakers will proudly place on their posters, so keep the wording consistent with how you announce awards publicly.
- 4
Choose color and finish
Dial in the laurel's color and finish so it reads well on both dark and light backgrounds — filmmakers place these over posters, stills, and social graphics. Aim for enough contrast that the text stays legible at small sizes.
- 5
Preview against a sample film
Use the live preview to see your laurel the way a filmmaker will see it. Check every tier you created — the longest award name is the real test for whether your text fits cleanly inside the wreath.
- 6
Publish to your festival
When it looks right, save and publish. Your laurel set becomes available to issue from the Awards Dashboard — the moment you assign a winner there, the matching laurel is what the filmmaker earns and can display.
Tips
- Keep tier names consistent between Laurel Studio and how you announce awards publicly — filmmakers cross-reference them.
- Design for legibility at small sizes: your laurel will often appear as a thumbnail on a poster or a social post.
- You can maintain more than one laurel design per festival — e.g. a general Official Selection laurel plus distinct category awards.
FAQ
- Can I edit a laurel after films have already earned it?
- Design edits are best made before you start issuing awards. Once a laurel is earned and displayed by filmmakers, treat changes carefully — reserve edits for fixing genuine mistakes rather than restyling mid-season.
- How many laurel designs can one festival have?
- You can create multiple designs — a standard selection laurel and separate designs for specific award categories, for example. Each becomes assignable from the Awards Dashboard.
Ready to try it yourself?
Open Laurel Studio