Switzerland will host the Eurovision Song Contest in 2025 - this time the host country has reinterpreted the popular videos that are shown before the performances and sent illustrated postcards all over the world.
It has now become a tradition that the artists at the ESC are announced with an introductory video that conveys impressions of the respective host country. This year, Switzerland drew on its own illustration history and presented drawn motifs in the style of old posters from the golden era of Swiss tourism. The ESC thus visually ties in with Switzerland's tourism tradition and also revives the custom of sending vacation postcards, as all motifs were printed and physically sent to the interpreters.
The creative agency Vaudeville Studios from Zurich illustrated all the postcards in-house. The 37 large-format illustrations were created entirely by hand without any AI support and feature locations from all parts of the country. There has never been an illustrated series like this before, say the creatives at Vaudevile Studios proudly.
More about the background
In November 2024, Vaudeville Studios was approached by Zurich-based film production company Dynamic Frame to collaborate on the ESC pitch for the creation of the artists' intro films, known as postcards. As the executive body of the ESC Basel 2025, SRG invited six production companies to pitch for the creation of the films and the illustrated vintage postcards. Two companies made it through to the second round. Here, a postcard had to be produced. Each artist from the 37 countries receives a physical postcard from an ambassador from Switzerland (regular, diverse people, not famous personalities) and is invited to a special location in Switzerland for a joint campaign. Basel, as the host city, has the most events represented (including Fasnacht, Beyeler Museum, streetcar ride on a historic streetcar, etc.).
"One of the biggest challenges for us was to physically deliver the finished drawn and printed postcards to Dynamic Frame in time for the start of filming. Because in the postcard films, the artists hold the physical postcards in their hands. We often only had 3 to 5 days for a complete realization including print production per postcard from the decision on location and the interaction of the ambassador with the artist(s)! This was achieved with the simultaneous shooting of various postcards in just a few days. This required perfect planning on our part and the provision of sufficient women and menpower in the period from mid-January to mid-April," explains Roger Zürcher, owner and Head of 2D & Animation at Vaudeville Studios.
"All postcards were created in-house in Zurich Wipkingen with our employees. Without any AI support. During the pitch phase, various generative AI tools were tested but rejected. They all turned out to be unsuitable. None of the tools had the necessary precision (exact subject including action with ambassador, optimization of the image section by omitting or adding desired and undesired elements, etc.), flexibility (very vertical hierarchy levels with many people noting correction requests) and continuity (37 postcards in the same, newly developed style)."
"The illustrations are drawn in a completely newly developed, modern style. The style is based on vintage posters and postcards from the golden era of Swiss tourism (ca. 1880-1930). Each of the 37 participating countries has been given a 3-color country code - from the nine corporate design colors of the ESC. The postcards are mainly in these three country colors. The following were involved in the development of the style: Arthur Deyneuve - Art Director SRG for the ESC, Jen Ries & Luca Zurfluh - Creative Directors of Dynamic Frame."
"The result is - to our knowledge - a unique, comprehensive series of 37 large-format postcard illustrations (can easily be printed on A1 or larger - posters are available in the official store) for selected locations in all parts of Switzerland. As soon as all 37 illustrated postcards have been published at the ESC (the first 18 subjects in the 1st semi-final, a further 19 in the 2nd semi-final), they will be available online as an iconic set," says Roger Zürcher.
Team
Responsible at Vaudeville Studios: Project manager and creative direction: Roger Zürcher. Illustration postcards: Nicolas Charly, Lead Artist. Marlene Low, illustration. Zéa Schaad, additional illustration. Dania Terzi, additional illustration. Anaïs Voirol, additional illustration. Giulia Laugel, additional illustration.
Responsible at SRG: Art'ur Deyneuve, Art Director. Mira Bürgi, Associate Show Producer.
Responsible at Dynamic Frame: Luzius Fischer, Executive Producer. Theresa Berres Creative Producer. Jen Ries, Creative Director. Luca Zurfluh, Creative Director.
Font design: Designstudio Tristesse
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