# Eight films, their runtimes, and one red dot

> A festival programme page is pure editorial typesetting — titles, minutes, country codes, times. The red dot beside one entry does everything a picture would.

August 18, 2026 · https://justog.club/stories/film-festival-programme-page

A ruled list. Eight titles down the left. Beside each: a running time, a two-letter country code, a
screening time. Against the third one, a small scarlet dot somebody added by hand.

That dot is the only thing on the shirt that isn't information, and it's the entire design.

## Why a programme page?

Because it's a list of things somebody chose, and choosing is the interesting part.

A festival programme is a schedule, but read properly it's a portrait of an intention: what
somebody planned to see, in what order, across how many days. It has the same quality as
[a life list or a setlist](/stories/gift-for-a-birdwatcher) — a table that's secretly a
diary.

And unlike everything else in this bucket, it has no picture in it at all. It's typography doing
the whole job.

## What makes the setting look right?

Density, alignment, and abbreviations.

Programme pages are set tight: small type, ruled or dotted leaders, columns that align to the
character, running times in bare numerals, countries as two-letter codes. There's no ornament
because there's no room for any — the page is trying to fit a hundred screenings into sixteen
sides.

That editorial compression is what signals *catalogue* rather than *poster*, and it's a register
almost nothing else in clothing occupies.

## What's the dot for?

It's the human being in a machine-set document.

Somebody went through with a pen and marked the one they were definitely going to. That single
manual mark against a perfectly typeset list carries more feeling than any illustration would —
it's a decision, visible.

One dot. The moment there are four, it's a highlighting system and the effect is gone. Same
discipline as
[one line set larger in a credit roll](/stories/end-credits-typography).

## Can I use a real festival's programme?

Festival names and identities are trademarks, and their programmes are edited publications.

The major festivals are brands with strict usage rules — their names, laurels and award marks are
policed carefully, and the laurel wreath device in particular is used as a credential, which makes
misuse a claim rather than a decoration.

Invent the festival. Naming one, and inventing eight films to put in it, is the enjoyable part and
it's where the personality goes.

## What should the eight films be?

Real things, disguised as films.

That's the version worth making. Eight events from a year, or a relationship, or a job, written as
film titles with plausible running times and countries. `THE HOLLOW ISLAND · 78 · IE · 12.45`.
Anyone who knows will decode about half of them.

For a group it works as a shared joke with genuine craft behind it —
[the format is public, the contents are yours](/stories/inside-joke-gift-shirt).

## Is a wall of small type wearable?

At the right size, and the density is the only real decision.

A real programme page would be illegible on cotton. Eight to twelve entries, set two or three times
larger than print, keeps every line readable while still reading as a catalogue from a distance.
The ruled structure does the graphic work, so the type doesn't have to be big to look composed.

Somebody standing close can read it. That's the point — it rewards the second look.

## Does it print well?

Yes, with generous leading.

Ruled lines and aligned columns are hard-edged and safe. The risk is line spacing: entries set at
true catalogue leading will merge on fabric, so the gaps want opening up more than feels
typographically correct.

Sand, cream and oatmeal read as uncoated paper. Two inks — black for the listings, scarlet used
exactly once.

## How do I get one made?

Describe the programme at [JustOG](/) — what the festival is called, the eight films, and which one
gets the dot. Pick a direction, drag the crop frame, see it composited on the real garment, and
it's made to order and shipped.

Designs other people have published are in the [shop](/shop).

Third one down. That's the one they were actually going to.