How What's Old Becomes New
Identity
The positioning "Early Music. New Light" was designed to convey that this choir was not the same old "early" music ensemble.
To support this positioning, we needed a logo that communicated the spirituality of early music – along with the freshness of the TCC's approach and repertoire – without resorting to clichés of the category like musical notation, ancient instruments, churches or florid, baroque-inspired serif fonts.
This inspiring solution can be read as bird – a symbol of the soul -– or a cross. Animated by light. Its very ambiguity and motion, coupled with its energy, move this logo well out of the ordinary and into a space of its own.
The new logo has had an uplifting effect on both the choir and its audiences.
Brochure
The TCC identity applications had three main objectives:
- First, they had to stand out from competitors’ materials – the concert calendars were often found in literature racks along side pamphlets from a slew of competing performing arts organizations.
- Second, they had to inspire – the colours, design and copy all had to work together to give the reader a sense that TTC concerts we magical and moving
- Third, they had to reinforce the new identity – with limited budget and few communications opportunities, the design system needed to showcase and reinforce the identity
The TTC concert calendar is regarded as a work of art by choir members and the public – the aesthetics of the brochure being a fair indication of the quality of experience of the concerts. In this case, “art” is one that strengthens the core messages and communications rather than obscuring them, as so many purely design driven solutions do.
The Team
Brand Strategy, Slogan Development and Creative Direction: Harry H. Cornelius, Sideren Inc.
Identity and Communications Design: Jeffrey Vanlerberghe, Thrive Design & Communications
