300Million evolves Theatres Trust identity

The Theatres Trust, the national advisory body which promotes the protection of theatres, is to launch an overhauled brand identity by 300million.

The organisation provides advice and information, and champions the value and protection of theatre buildings.

Appointed in January after a four-way pitch against undisclosed competitors to assess the TT’s branding and communications, 300million has been charged with creating a visual identity, carrying out a ‘total brand overhaul’ of the organisation’s website, magazine, stationery, literature and advertising.

The project reflects the keenness ‘to promote a more engaging approach for the trust’ by its newly appointed director Mhora Samuel. ‘It is about creating the sense of us being a more dynamic association,’ she says.

300million was chosen ‘because of its creativity and flexibility’, according to Samuel. ‘We felt that it would work well with all members of the team at the TT, and help us to develop ideas and concepts for communicating our aspirations.’

Under creative director Dom Bailey, 300million has retained elements of the trust’s original visual identity, but evolved it to reflect the current and future aims and objectives of the organisation.

The use of three horizontal bands, which have been carried through to all the visual motifs, reflects the TT’s work with architectural spaces, and represents the organisation’s three main areas of expertise. Creating a consistent graphic focus throughout the brand’s material, the three lines appear on the backs of business cards and on the front of sponsorship material. Its quarterly magazine also has an underlying grid based on the three horizontal sections.

The work is still in progress, with the first stage of the process – a soft launch of the website, www.theatrestrust.org.uk – to be followed by the publication of the redesigned magazine. A gradual roll-out of events linked to the separate areas of the TT’s transformation will follow.