Bay Opera Company
Case Study
Lori Stretton
Georgia Hamilton
Young people are no strangers to the delights of music, from pop to rock. But one lesser explored medium of music for younger audiences is the Opera. Georgia Hamilton, through the use of modern, kinetic typography and branding is drawing younger audiences in to the exciting and complex world of Opera.
"I wanted to create a modern and interesting design for the opera company that would encourage a younger audience to look into the world of opera."
THE BRAND
Georgia chose to create a brand identity for a fictional opera company called the "Bay Opera Company". With the aim to bring a sense of modernity to the opera that would, in turn, attract a younger audience, she chose a muted, natural colour palette paired with a modern sans serif font.
The clean earthy colours of the forest green and ocean blue offer a timelessness and effortlessness to the brand. Georgia's personal passion for music is evident in the design. She said she "wanted to reflect the strong contrast in tone with different melodies and singers by using light and dark colours". The huge vocal range of classic operas such as Mozart's the Magic Flute, is celebrated perfectly in the black and white typography used throughout the brand.
THE PRINT
The focus of this identity design was print. Georgia selected four different print mediums to represent the brand to give viewers an insight into the applications of the Bay Opera Company in different contexts.
Georgia has perfectly conceptualised how the Bay Opera company brand would work across advertisement, information brochures, theatre tickets and posters. The design is clean and captivating, making it easy to spot and engage with in areas around the city. It invites passers-by to look closer at what is written on the poster and encourages engagement. It allows people, young and old alike, to get excited about the Opera and purchase tickets of their own.
THE TYPOGRAPHY
Kinetic typography is at the heart of this brand. Utilising cut and crop kinetic type, Georgia created diagonally cut text to express a sharp tone, reminiscent of some of the intense musicality of Operas that the company exhibits.
In addition to the diagonally cut text, Georgia has cut gaps in various places of the text so that she can inset body text that contains additional information about the Opera in a dynamic way. This adds interest and acts as a way to draw people into the design and encourages them to learn more about way the Bay Opera Company does.
"Overlapping the larger headings with the smaller body text created an overlapping and harmonious feel, expressive of opera music."
Georgia has extended the application of kinetic type throughout her brand design specifically in the brochure. The careful placement of type across the bi-folds of the brochure adds an additional kinetic element to the design and creates further visual interest. The brochure becomes, not only an extension of the brand, but it's own piece of art representing the variety, class, and performance of opera.
Through her exploration of cut and crop kinetic type, Georgia has created a beautifully elegant and timeless brand for the Bay Opera Company. She has successfully paired bold black and white sans serif type with a muted, natural colour palette eliciting the range of vocal performance one can experience at the opera. Georgia has successfully achieved her aim of creating an engaging brand that will attract a younger audience and entice them into attending the opera.