A festival, an identity, a website
The Presstival is the first festival in French-speaking Switzerland dedicated to journalism. Scheduled for 23 and 24 May 2026 in Biel/Bienne, it brings together journalists, newsrooms and media enthusiasts around debates, radio workshops with RTS and Radio Vostok, documentary screenings and informal gatherings.
To bring this event to life online, we collaborated with Monokini, a graphic design collective based in the Jura and Lausanne, renowned for their exacting typographic work in the service of culture and institutions.
Why Kirby CMS
For an editorial project with a strong visual identity, the choice of CMS is decisive. Kirby was the natural fit:
- Flat-file, no database, simple deployment, maximum performance
- Total frontend freedom, Monokini's design is expressed without the constraints of an imposed theme or framework
- Intuitive Panel, the Presstival team manages its content (programme, speakers, partners) in complete autonomy
What we delivered
The presstival.ch site includes:
- An editorial homepage with interactive navigation and refined typography
- Day-by-day programme management, with workshops, debates and screenings
- A partner system with logos and categorisation
- Newsletter integration for festival updates
- A mobile-first responsive design
- Optimal performance, Lighthouse A+ score across all metrics
Editorial design by Monokini
The Presstival design reflects Monokini's DNA: bold typography, generous whitespace, subtle hover interactions. Every element, from menus to partner sections, is designed to serve the content without unnecessary decoration.
This minimalist, exacting approach aligns with Eclypsys's philosophy: code in the service of design, not the other way round.
A bespoke Kirby plugin: decorative blocks
Monokini's graphic concept revolves around the theme of censorship, black blocks placed over photographs, like press redactions. A powerful visual gesture that questions the relationship between image and information.
To enable the festival team to apply this treatment themselves, we developed a dedicated Kirby plugin: a visual component integrated into the administration panel that allows importing a photo and freely placing black blocks via drag and drop. Positioning is independent for desktop and mobile, and the blocks are faithfully reproduced on the production site.
This type of development illustrates our approach: translating an artistic direction into an editorial tool, so that the design lives beyond the initial delivery.
A CMS that adapts to the content
Thanks to Kirby blueprints, each content type has its own form in the panel: speakers have their fields (bio, photo, media), the programme has its time slots, partners have their visibility levels. The Presstival editorial team can modify the site content without any technical intervention.
That is exactly what a festival needs: a site that evolves as fast as the programme.
Presstival partner, our commitment to culture and media
Beyond the development, Eclypsys is a partner of the Presstival. We enjoy working on projects that matter, and a festival that brings journalists together to discuss their craft certainly does.
See you on 23 and 24 May in Biel/Bienne.