Agatha Christie & Frankman
Agatha Christie holds a special place in the heart of Torquay, her birthplace and treasure trove of inspiration for her collection of novels.
As one of the town’s most celebrated figures, the Queen of Crime’s legacy continues to attract fans from around the world. Over the years, we have had the honour of collaborating with The Agatha Christie Festival on a multitude of marketing and design projects, proudly becoming a key organisation in helping to celebrate the memory of one of the bay’s most beloved.
Back in 2019, the team behind the festival got in touch with us at Frankman, asking our help to design a logo that represents the event they are so proud of. The simple yet thoughtful design aims to represent her work whilst maintaining the trademark and iconic signature.
For obvious reasons that we don’t like to remind ourselves of, tourism slowed down for a few years in Torquay after that time, but in 2022 The Agatha Christie Festival wanted to revitalise and relaunch in a big way so contacted us with some big ideas.
A Centenary Year
In Agatha Christie’s centenary year, Christie’s daughter Rosalind Hicks assisted in creating the Agatha Christie Mile.
a collection of plaques and locations that represent places that were important to her and were thought to inspire her writing. After the success of the new look logo, the English Riviera BID tasked us with putting together a leaflet, complete with a detailed map of the Mile, accompanied by text, imagery and a clear and effective design.
The map and leaflet we put together beautifully illustrates Tobay through the years whilst adding a modern twist. It includes a map of the bay featuring the location carefully thought out by the people behind the Mile, as well as a detailed description of each one. It also features her most popular novels, important details of her history and clear instructions of where to find out more online.
You can pick up a copy in the English Riviera Visitor Information Centre, on Vaughan Parade, by the Harbourside in Torquay.
Blending History and Modernity
The blend between history and modernity is something that the festival wanted to put across, to reach a younger audience whilst also staying authentic.
For this reason, we were also asked to create an illustration which brings 1890-born Agatha Christie into the modern day. We were provided with a black and white photo of Agatha on a boat from the early 1900’s. Mark got to work on Adobe Illustrator and produced the image you can see on the front cover: a colourful, modern version of what was previously a black and white image.
As a result of its success, we were asked to repeat this for the following two years, in 2023 and this year in 2024.
The Agatha Christie Festival
The Agatha Christie Festival happens every year in Torquay to coincide with her birthday, and this year it falls between 7th 15th September. We’re excited to see our work in action, and to see the people of Torbay and beyond learn more about our town’s rich history!
