Last year we were approached by Collusion Music and Dance Ensemble to update their brand. Whenever we embark on a rebrand for a client we like to deep dive into the history, culture, goals and aspirations for that organisation or individual. You can expect us to ask you questions like, "who is your market, what's your history and where do you want to be in the future?" The better we understand your needs, the better the brief and the greater the outcome.
Collusion Music and Dance Ensemble is the creative brainchild of Gareth Belling and Benjamin Greaves. This gorgeous Brisbane based ensemble have just finished touring Turbine at the Shanghai Dance Festival.
Turbine is an amazing work, a treat for eyes and ears. Collusion collaborated with the talented composer Thomas Green for this event. We were lucky to see it at the Brisbane Powerhouse 2018 Melt Festival (after designing the poster of course). Now it has to be said, due to my previous incarnation as a dancer, I have a soft spot for dancers and musicians, so re-branding Collusion wasn't like going to work at all.
The Brief
Collusion required re-branding, poster designs, digital letterhead and a website template they could populate themselves. We also printed a short run of letterpress business cards. These cards are a bit special because they are printed in 1 colour but with 2 different densities of ink and depths of impression. We used this technique to enhance the displaced type splice in the new logo whilst keeping the look clean and modern.
The Design Approach
The most important aspects of the Collusion re-brand included; rectifying the type weight, re-positioning the brand with tag-lines and breathing new life into the communications suite with a contemporary colour palette.
I have to show you the old logo.
As you can see, the old brand utilised a very fine weight font with broken line features. From the moment I set eyes on it, I knew that I wanted spliced text as a driver in the redesign. Secondly and even more importantly, the fine font had to go because the brand was clearly losing impact in logo heavy event media (think festival posters with lots of other company and sponsor logos etc).
So the visual impact issue was easily resolved with the use of a heavier sans serif font to form the backbone of the brand before splicing into and displacing an angled section of the text. We cooled down the colour from a warm red to a gorgeous teal that will sit up on either black or white backgrounds.
The shape and direction of the spliced and displaced lettering in the new Collusion logo was also inspired by; movement pathways in dance, the travelling nature or resonance of sound and side stage lights that reveal and conceal. In full colour the effect is dramatic.
The Tag Line
I'm not sure if you have noticed but since Trump's election, "collusion" has taken off as a negative buzz word in news media. Therefore it was paramount that we develop a tagline that creates a context for Collusion. The new byline “a beautiful conspiracy” repositions the brand, capturing the collaborative nature and artistry of the company.
You can find Collusion at www.collusion.com.au
(Oh and FYI Collusion also creates programs for private events and functions as well as for festivals and stage shows)