Lyric Theatre
Creative Direction / Branding / Marketing Material / Signage
The Lyric Hammersmith has a lot going on. Its architecture is a mixture of Victoriana, 1970's brutalism and 21st Century minimalism. There are large scale and experimental productions running alongside youth programmes and kids' shows. Re-branding the theatre, we aimed to describe its complex energy and personality, to give it a unique visual voice. We imagined the theatre as a restless and curious mind, willing to explore all aspects and genres of the art form. It became apparent to us that the identity shouldn't be created on a computer, so we developed a hand written system to become both the signature logo and the general voice of its presentations.
The fluidity of a brush script created an identity that is loose yet uniquely identifiable as the Lyric. All the headline typography is completely hand written in Indian ink on cartridge paper. The idiosyncrasies achieved in the mark making of spontaneous handwriting is key to the personality of the Lyric. It also allows us to create titles that talk specifically about a production, so for example, we might use harshly scrawled upper case lettering for a politically charged play or perhaps a looser, more rounded script for something that has a softer, more melancholic theme.
Our role as art directors sees us designing or overseeing all marketing material including seasonal brochures, posters, fliers, advertisements and website. As part of our ongoing commitment to the refurbishment of the building, we have created a signage and decorative system. We have quite literally scrawled all over the building and promotional material with playful script and drawings, creating the feeling to the the visitor that they have just walked into the lifesize visualisation of a creative sketchbook, full of notes and ideas.