A colourful, crowned canine takes centre stage in the winning design as our official poster for the 2018 Adelaide Fringe.

Created by Sydney-based graphic designer Jacqueline Daniel, the poster celebrates the Year of the Dog with a balloon version of the Chinese horoscope.

Ms Daniel, whose winning design was picked out of more than 300 submissions, said 2018 would be the year for Fringe-goers to unleash their festive spirit.

“My poster design is about crowning everyone who joins in on the festival and unleashes themselves into the night,” she said.

“With the jewels of the festival to light their way, they will experience the true treasures of the Adelaide Fringe.”

Adelaide Fringe Director and CEO Heather Croall said the design was a perfect fit given next year’s festival opening would coincide with Chinese New Year celebrations and the Year of the Dog.

“We asked poster competition entrants to represent the playful, inclusive and cheeky spirit of the Adelaide Fringe, and we feel that Jacqueline’s design has really embraced that brief,” Ms Croall said.

“She has given us a quirky new mascot with a royal flair and surrounded by diamonds to highlight that the Adelaide Fringe is the jewel in the crown of Australian arts festivals.”

In keeping with Adelaide Fringe’s open access nature, there is a long history of the official poster being chosen from a design competition that anyone from around the world can enter. This year saw over 300 entries submitted.

The winning design will start to appear around Adelaide as anticipation for next year’s Fringe builds.

A full 2018 Adelaide Fringe program will be released in December, with the festival running from 16 February until 18 March.