Cog creates Official London Theatre branding
Cog has created the identity for Official London Theatre, the public-facing branding for the Society of London Theatre.
SOLT is a trade association that represents theatres in the capital. It also operates the bi-weekly London Theatre Guide listings publication and the TKTS booth in Leicester Square, as well as schemes such as Theatre Tokens and the Olivier Awards.
Cog says, ‘The Society is a powerful force within the theatre industry but is virtually unknown to the public.’ The consultancy was tasked with developing a public-facing brand to span the organisation’s activities.
The identity is based on a pentagon-shaped shield, which Cog says, ‘conveys the organisation’s values of prestige and credibility’, while the Relay typeface is used to reflect the West End’s Art Deco heritage.
The shield can be filled with any flat colour or images.
Cog was approached about the project last August, and was appointed the following month after persuading the client to drop their original plans for a creative pitch, according to Cog director Michael Smith.
The consultancy has also been commissioned to work on sub-brand development for London Theatre Guide projects, as well as the organisation’s bi-weekly printed listings guide.
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I’m not an advocate of working for free in pitch situations… but it does also feel a bit like Official London Theatre has not been given the brand it could have had, had it not been persuaded to drop its plans for a creative pitch.
There are perfectly well-designed and serviceable brands like this (and better) created all the time, and yet for some reason the quality of the work alone does not merit a mention in Design Week – presumably because they involve neither a Big Name client nor agency.