What it had to solve
Dino Snores for Kids is a monthly sleepover at the Natural History Museum, sponsored by online rental company Airbnb for six months; it needed a visual identity plus an accompanying educational magazine, Explore.
The idea
Cast sleepover kids as little explorers: colourful illustrated dinosaurs and explorer-gear children carry the identity across event, magazine and keepsakes
How it works
Studio Anorak applied its trademark colourful style — from its decade-old quarterly kids' magazine Anorak — to the event identity and Explore magazine, built on themes of 'travel', 'transformation' and 'exploration'. Children become 'little explorers' for the night: a torch-lit trail, a dinosaur t-shirt workshop and a science show before they settle down to sleep at midnight. The magazine carries stories, educational features and an interview with teenage explorer Jade Haimester, and a 'dino-inspired' poster ships in the goodie bag.
What it did
The identity and magazine launched in September 2017; no attendance figures are reported, but the system gave the six-month sponsorship a consistent look across event, print and keepsakes.
Background
Dino Snores for Kids turns the Natural History Museum into a monthly sleepover where children become 'little explorers' for the night — a torch-lit trail, dinosaur t-shirt making and an educational science show, then lights-out among the exhibits at midnight. Airbnb sponsored the event for six months and briefed London's Studio Anorak to create its visual identity, along with an accompanying educational magazine called Explore.
The identity and magazine draw on the studio's trademark colourful style, known from its quarterly kids' magazine Anorak, and take their cues from the event's key themes of 'travel', 'transformation' and 'exploration'. Cute illustrations of dinosaurs and children in explorer gear run across the branding.
Explore magazine carries stories, educational features, activities such as making your own passport holder, and an interview with teenage explorer Jade Haimester; children also leave with a 'dino-inspired' poster in their goodie bag.
Why it lands
The identity leans on the studio's existing kids'-magazine voice, so it reads as a world children recognise, not museum signage.
The themes — travel, transformation, exploration — turn a sleepover schedule into a narrative children can join.
It gives the sponsor a distinctive owned event rather than a badge on a wall.
What you can take
Event branding earns its keep when it extends into things children take home — the goodie-bag poster outlives the night.
Since then
The identity and Explore magazine launched by late September 2017, within the six-month Airbnb sponsorship; no follow-up figures appear in the source.
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