New identity for London Contemporary Orchestra

The face of the new London Contemporary Orchestra, set to make its debut on the classical music scene early next month, has been crafted by consultancy 300million.

The orchestra, set up by conductors Hugh Brunt and Robert Ames, is hoping to shake up the classical music scene, by prioritising only contemporary classical compositions and working with popular musicians including Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood.

The London consultancy clinched the project last autumn, without a pitch, having attracted the attention of the client as a result of its branding work with the London Symphony Orchestra, says 300million project manager Muireann Sheahan.

Sheahan denies that the LCO acronym or name could perhaps cause confusion on the classical music scene.

‘Part of the brief was to look at titles for the orchestra. Because it’s new, we needed something non-generic and direct,’ says Sheahan. ‘We didn’t foresee any confusion with the acronym or name because the London Symphony Orchestra is norm ally referred to as the “LSO” while the London Chamber Orchestra is never really abbreviated.’

The ‘fresh, simple and clear’ identity, says Sheahan, is based around the letter ‘O’, which has been fractured to reveal concealed letters ‘L’ and ‘C’.

The visual identity uses treated photographic portraits of composers, using a pareddown two-tone colour palette.

300million has also designed the group’s season brochure, direct mail, stationery and website, which will go live this week at www.lcorchestra.co.uk