table of contents Introduction
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Logo Color Palette Imagery Typography & Hierarchies Sizing Paper & Printing Methods
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About This Project Thanks
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Style Guide: Introduction
introduction The Utah Shakespeare Festival (recently changed from the Utah Shakespearean Festival) is a Tony-AwardWinning regional festival located in Cedar City, Utah. The 2010-2011 season will be the festival’s 50th Anniversary. In celebration of that, I have studied USF for my senior project and would like to present a conceptual re-branding of the festival. The Utah Shakespeare Festival did not in any way participate in or fund this project. It was undertaken as a personal project during my time studying at Southern Utah University.
For this project, I have conceptualized and designed a logo with several variations, chosen a color palette and paired each with a pattern, established typographical standards for the brand, selected paper and printing methods, designed posters, playbills, stationary, envelopes, and business cards. While this is by no means a comprehensive study of the brand and a finalized rebranding scheme, I believe that as a concept it is very approachable and I hope that it may serve as a springboard for further discussion and inspiration as the Utah Shakespeare Festival prepares for its 50th Anniversary Season.
In undertaking this project, I endeavor to treat the existing brand of the Utah Shakespeare Festival with the utmost respect while presenting an alternative visual aesthetic and conceptual meaning behind the brand that will further place USF as a forerunner in its discipline. I believe that the Utah Shakespeare Festival is unique in its vision, its location and most especially the passion of the people who work to make it a reality. I would like to see the visual presentation of USF be just as respected, innovative and self-aware as the festival itself. With this rebranding scheme that follows in the next few pages, I have developed a contemporary identity for the Utah Shakespeare Festival that not only draws upon its rich history, but speaks to the future as well. A rebranding could have a dramatic effect upon the consumer’s perception of the festival as a brand and in the best-case scenario will bring in new generations of patrons while still appealing to exisiting patrons. This new interest and support could very well be the push the festival and the community of Cedar City needs in this time of economic insecurity.
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utah shakespeare festival
logo The redesigned logo draws upon the rich history of the Utah Shakespeare Festival and references previous designs that are well-known in the community and among patrons. The motif of a flag which is repeated in older logos has been simplified and stylized but is still immediately recognizable. This contemporary take on the same concept also includes updated typography that is extremely legible and unique. The heirarchy serves to establish what is unique about the Utah Shakespeare Festival among similar brands: Utah. Between the many different Shakespeare Festivals across the United States, the easiest way for a patron to differ between these is to note the location of each. When placed in context with other festivals, the Utah Shakespeare Festival should highlight its unique location as a brand positioning tool. There are four variations of the logo that will be used depending upon the application, size and colors available.
fig. 1 This variation of the logo is the official mark and should be used first and foremost on all publications, print or digitally based. It should be placed along the right-hand side of the document and extended past the bleed line so the edge is flush. Whenever possible, the placement should preferably be in the bottom (always right-hand) portion of the design. This logo variation should never be used smaller than one inch in height.
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fig. 2 This second variation of the logo is to be used when the official logo design, for whatever reason, will not work well on the publication. A specific example would be business envelopes: the design must be constrained to the left top corner of the envelope so this variation of the logo would be the better choice. The use of this variation will have to be addressed on a case-by-case basis. As with the first variation, this logo should not be used smaller than one inch in height.
fig. 3 Small-scale versions of the logo are used repeatedly in publications such as handbooks, catalogs, program layouts, contracts and any other sort of multi-page document. This design employs only the initials of the festival, ensuring that even when shrunk to a very small size, it remains legible. In context, this smallscale logo should always be accompanied by one of the large-scale logos used on a main page of the publication. This logo should be shrunk to no more than a quarter inch in height and should always be placed against the right-hand side of the document (refer to Fig. 1 instructions).
fig. 4 This final variation of the logo is to be used again on repeating pages of a publication or on items that are not large enough to support the official logo. Examples of this would include this document (see upper left-hand corner of page) and items like pencils or pens that the festival may want to produce with a logo. This variation may be used smaller than any others but must be kept to at least one-eighth of an inch in height.
Style Guide: Logo
large-scale usage
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small-scale usage
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color palette One of the most effective ways to establish a brand mood is through the use of color. The Utah Shakespeare Festival will use the color gold to establish themselves as the authority on contemporary Shakespeare while referencing historical influences.
fig. 5, 6, 7 & 8
The most important consideration is that the use of gold must never be tacky or forced. Gold requires elegance and sophistication. The use of Pantone and other swatches that imitate gold is never a good idea. It must always appear to be authentic and yet effortless. Consistency will be extremely important with color as well.
authentic.
Accent colors are also very important as they will serve to set off the gold. These can and should change from season to season and will help the brand continue to feel contemporary but still authentic while reflecting the current industry trends. For this season I have used jewel tones and rich muted colors that all complement and contrast against the gold. A balance between warm and cool colors will be very important as you will see in the following pages. The use of any color too close to the gold in value or tone is highly discouraged. It is suggested that each color chosen is tested against the paper used for printing purposes for best results.
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Every variation of the logo should appear in either solid black or in solid gold. This gold was acheived by hand mixing a pigment powder with acrylic extender base to produce a sheer, almost translucent layer of gold when printed. Again, the gold must always be
fig. 9 – 16 As stated before, the accent colors for each season can change as long as they complement the main use of gold. For this particular season jewel tones and rich muted hues have been used. Each of these colors was hand-mixed for printing purposes and was carefully tested against the paper printed on.
Style Guide: Color Palette
logo colors
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accent colors
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Style Guide: Color Palette
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imagery Up until now, the Utah Shakespeare Festival has always heavily relied upon photographs to establish the brand and mood. In this re-branding, a completely different direction has been used and the focus has switched to color, texture, typography and pattern as imagery. All these elements interact together as layers to create a very specific and consistent brand. Through careful selection and pairing of patterns and colors, very different moods can be established for each production that speaks to the theme of each play while remaining true to the essential brand. Photographs of course will still be used but much more sparingly and to greater effect in publications. The main focus of all documents, however, should always be the use of texture and color. None of the patterns used should be representational in any way. They should always be geometric based but through the shapes relate to the particular theme or production with which they are paired. This is a very objective task so there is no wrong answer. All of the patterns used for this rebranding were obtained under license from the French Paper Company (which are free as long as they are printed on French Paper). Patterns may be constructed by the designer from scratch or bought from stock companies. As a set, the patterns for each season should always work together so it is recommended that they come from the same source.
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fig. 17, 18, 19 & 20 These patterns are samples of the ones used for this rebranding. For more examples please refer to the actual posters and playbills designed.
Style Guide: Imagery
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typography & heirarchies The use of typography is one of the single most important factors in design and plays a huge part in the rebranding of the Utah Shakespeare Festival. While the graphic of the mark is unique, the mark is primarily typographic, which is a departure from previous logos and helps to establish the more contemporary feel sought after. Because of the mark’s dependence on typography, all publications from the festival must place equal importance on typography and most especially consistency of the typography. The official fonts of the Utah Shakespeare Festival are Hypatia Sans Pro and Minion Pro. Hypatia Sans should always be used for titles and headings. Minion Pro is suited for large amounts of text that is meant to be read, much like in this publication. Titles and headers must always be set in small caps, semibold and kerned similarly to the official logo (slightly looser than default, depending on size of the text). Body text should be set in either 9 or 10 point and left to default kerning and paragraph spacing settings. Small details like optical margin alignment, metric vs. optical spacing, paragraph, spacing, etc. are left to the designer although consistency is again emphasized.
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Style Guide: Typography & Heirarchies, Sizing, Paper & Printing Methods
sizing Standard sizes have been used throughout this rebranding scheme. Posters were designed at 11x17" with a .25" bleed; playbills were designed slightly smaller than standard at 8x5.5" (8x11" unfolded); stationary was designed on standard letter-size paper (8.5x11"), envelopes were designed as standard number 10 mailers (4.125x9.5"); and business cards were designed at 3.5x2".
paper & printing methods All products were printed on French Paper’s Off-White Dur-O-Tone line. As with all other aspects of this rebranding, consistency is encouraged with the use of paper. Text weight paper used was 80 lb. and cover weight was also 80 lb. This paper was chosen for its sheen, slight dapple texture and warm tone that complements the official gold color used.
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about this project This project was conceived and designed as my senior thesis project during her last semester of studying graphic design and photography at Southern Utah University. Because of the university’s close ties with the Utah Shakespeare Festiaval, I have been afforded a very intimate and unique perspective of the role the Utah Shakespeare Festival plays in the community of Cedar City as well as the wider arts community in the United States. As stated in the introduction, I received no funding or participation from the Utah Shakespeare Festival. I wanted to be able to approach the project independently as an observer to be able to offer a completely different alternative to the festival’s current visual brand. Each piece in this project was conceptualized and designed by myself. Each item is a hand-pulled silkscreen print produced at Southern Utah University’s printmaking studio. If you are interested in learning more about this project, please don’t hesitate to contact me via my website www.danellecheney.com or through my email danelle@danellecheney.com. All designs, text and images © 2010 Danelle Cheney. All patterns used in designs © French Paper Co.
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Style Guide: About this Project & Thanks
thanks This project would not have been possible were it not for several truly amazing people who served as consultants and assistants. First and foremost, my professors Jeff Hanson and Jay Merryweather, whose encouragement and advice are always invaluable; The printmaking professor, Brian Hoover, and his eternal patience as I learned to appreciate just how tricky silkscreening can be; My arts consultant, Dominic Yeager, for his patience and dedication to making sure that I “get� just what theatre is all about; Kate Montoya, printmaking guru, who kept me on my toes with good conversation and is the best printmaking buddy anyone could ask for; Tony Morlock, for keeping me company when the hours got long; All my other friends who never ceased to text, IM, Facebook and call with words of encouragement; French Paper, and their awesome products; Southern Utah University, which has great printmaking facilities; and of course the Utah Shakspeare Festival.
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