Obsidian Theatre Company is a leader of cultural specific work in Canada, highlighting works by highly acclaimed Black playwrights. In celebration of their 20th anniversary, I was tasked with designing all theatre-related collateral for the 2019/20 season.
Visual Identity
Editorial Design
Art Direction
Adobe InDesign
Adobe Illustrator
Two of their productions for the 19/20 season were partner presentations with other arts organizations, and their visual branding for the shows were already established. I needed to come up with a way to make the rest of the theatre's programming be visually cohesive with these disparate elements. I was also tasked with providing art direction for the promotional photo shoots for the programming.
I took into consideration their past collateral, and also researched notable works in the theatre or performance arts fields. After experimenting with different styles and methods, I worked with the theatre producer to align on a set of logotypes for each show that could help tie the productions together. Reading the scripts ended up informing a lot of the design decisions that I ended up making for the final products.
I designed a logotype for each of the production, playing on big and bold typographical treatments. The art direction of the photoshoot was informed by the script of each of the show and evoke the themes or visual cues from the plays – for example, I drew on the chaotic multiplicities of views and memories for Actually, and a bird's eye view of the main characters and a visual play with the power lines and shadows for Blacktop Sky. The three show graphics all work with frames/framing devices that interact with the show photos and typographical elements in different ways.
Each of the separate visual identities amounts to a cohesive visual representation of Obsidian as a brand, and remain true to the stories that the playwrights are trying to convey.
