OUGD601 - Practical Work - Questions to ask the Grand

1) If you had 30 seconds to explain to someone the essence of the Grand and the service it provides what would you say? 

2) Who are your 3 main competitors? What do you like about their presence? What do you like or dislike about their brand identity?

3) What about your background or service sets you apart from your competitors? Why should visitors choose you?

4) Is there a unique story behind the Grand's name and logo?

5) Describe the Grand in 5 adjectives or words.

6) What is the primary message you want to convey to your customers?

7). Do you have any market research about your clients that you can share with me such as age range? Most common age group to visit the Grand? 

8) What are your aims for the next 5 years?

9) What is/are your most popular attraction(s)/show(s)?

Dear sir/Madam,

Hello, I was wondering if you could help me? I am a graphic design student from Leeds Arts University currently in my final year of study, and am writing my dissertation on the benefits a strong visual identity can have for cultural institutions, such as theatres, museums and art galleries etc. 

Alongside my written essay I must also produce a body of practical work which reflects and contributes to the content of the essay and for this I would love to design a new concept for the visual identity of The Grand. This would include both print and digital collateral such as banners, posters, tickets and potentially a new website etc. 

On top of the research I have already conducted it would be great to either come down for an informal chat to ask a few questions about The Grand, or simply email over the list of questions that you could get back to me at your earliest convenience. This would give me more of an idea on the way the institution is run, it's aims and ambitions and therefore allow me to accurately produce a design that reflects the Grand as an institution.

This project is purely for my university portfolio so the information you provide will not be published publicly in any sort of way, however your involvement would be fantastic in terms of my research, findings and final design. 

Let me know if you are able to help out in any way at all!

Many thanks,

Beth Ewens 

OUGD601 - Practical Application - Research into the Grand

History of the Grand

The Leeds Grand Theatre and Opera House was built in 1878 in a backlash to the music hall tradition which was thought by ‘polite society’ to lower the tone of entertainment via the sort of humour presented in these pub-based establishments.

The theatre was built on a site of approximately three quarters of an acre with a frontage on New Briggate of 56 yards, including the Assembly Rooms. The theatre cost a total of £62,000 and took 13 months to build. 

The architect, George Corson, was heavily influenced by his assistant James Robertson Watson who had undertaken a tour of Europe’s churches and theatres. Many of the design inspirations came from these continental influences, in particular the gothic, ecclesiastical spires. The exterior is in a mixture of Romanesque and Scottish baronial styles, while the interior has such gothic motifs as fan-vaulting and clustered columns.

The first performance at the theatre was Much Ado About Nothing on 18 November 1878 and stars that have trodden the boards over the years have included Sarah Bernhardt, Ellen Terry, Julie Andrews, Felicity Kendal, Morecambe and Wise and Laurence Olivier.

2018 will mark the 140th Anniversary of The Grand Theatre opening. It is widely regarded as a major milestone in Victorian theatre building. Tours of the theatre are available to find out more about the history of this fascinating building.

In 1876, ten Leeds business men got together with a vision and the money to create a magnificent new theatre for the city. On opening, the Grand Theatre was managed by Wilson Barrett , an astute actor / businessman who successfully ran the theatre for over 15 years. Over the last 150 years, Leeds Grand Theatre and its beautiful sister venue City Varieties Music Hall have continued to be central to the culture and economy of the city.

These days, Leeds Grand Theatre brings the West End to Yorkshire whilst the City Varieties continues to be what Dara O’Briain hails as ‘one of the best venues for stand-up in the country’. Between them they draw audiences of around 400,000 people a year from Leeds, Yorkshire and beyond.

We are now looking for similarly visionary businessmen and businesswomen to help support these historic venues, as well as Leeds’ cosiest cinema, the Hyde Park Picture House , and secure our future for the next 150 years and beyond.

Productions and Events at the Grand, City Variety and Hyde Park Picture House

Comedies and Concerts

• Jon Richardson
• Dara O Brian
• Jake Bugg
• Elkie Brooks
• Sir Ken Dodd
• Jane McDonald
• Sixties Gold

Musicals

• Fat Friends - The Musical
• The Band
• CATS
• An Officer and a Gentleman
• The Last Ship
• Beautiful 
• This is Elvis
• Wicked
• Calendar Girls
• Jersey Boys
• Shrek
• Nativity

Drama

• ART
• The Case of the Frightened Lady
• The comedy about a bank robbery 

Dance Classes and Talks

• Keep Dancing for the over 50's
• Northern Ballet Revealed

Dance Shows

• Tango Moderno - Vincent Simone & Flavia Cacace
• Northern Ballet's Jane Eyre
• Sir Kenneth MacMillan
• The Little Mermaid 

"We hope you'll agree there's a great line up over the next few months with everything from Opera and ballet by our resident companies, Opera North and Northern Ballet, to spectacular West End Musicals, fantastic drama and some old favourites in concert."

OUGD601 - Practical Application - 5 tips for a strong identity system

Anne Swan is Global Creative Director for consumer brands for Siegel & Gale in New York. She has 5 beliefs on what can make a strong and lasting brand identity for an institution or company.  

From this article

01. Know the business

The most important and first step of an identity engagement is developing a complete understanding of the company. You can't begin to divine the future without first looking at the past. Do your research.

Set up meetings with and talk to employees across a wide range of departments in order to start to understand the company's true personality. This will help you understand the company's voice and be able to represent it.

02. Understand how brand identity impacts the bottom line

Brand identity isn't just about what looks the prettiest. It should have a direct link back to business strategy. People all have their personal tastes as to what looks best visually, but what is most important is how the visual design will drive the business forward. Is the larger goal of the company to come across as strong and stable? Intelligent and nimble? Creative and pioneering? Those attributes are all reflected in very different visual representations, and your identity should reflect that.

03. Tell a story

The brand identity should evoke a feeling in your customers, speak for the brand, and tell a story about where the company is going. Your customers should immediately understand something about the brand just by seeing its visual identity.

04. Design for adaptability

Your brand identity is not just one stagnant image. It needs to be able to change and adapt based on the medium. It goes without saying that social media is a vital component to today's brands. When designing a brand identity, you must take into consideration all the different mediums across which the brand will exist, and design something that is flexible enough to remain identifiable across all channels.

05. Don't launch a new identity in isolation

When launching a new brand identity, it is most strategic to launch alongside another piece of company news or a new initiative. The unavoidable fact is that people don't like change and no matter how wonderful the design, some percentage of your customer base will not like it. By aligning the brand identity with a corresponding announcement, you can support the change beyond just aesthetics and prove to customers why it is needed.

Building a strong brand identity is both an art and a science. But, by mixing research, data and creativity, you can create an end product that resonates with customers and drives the whole company forward.

Therefore before my redesign of the identity for the Grand in Leeds I must contact them to ask questions about the organisation, it's personality and their aims. I must also research into the Grand's history and the kind of clientele it attracts or wants to attract. I will also find out whether there are any new, up and coming programmes that the Grand are releasing. 

OUGD601 - Initial Ideas for practical

You should talk through each of your solutions in detail explaining a) how each resolves the design problem, b) your design decisions, c) material/production considerations and d) any distribution considerations:

Solution 1: 

Re-Design the visual identity for Leeds Grand Theatre, linking the identity to it's sister institutions, Hyde Park Picture House and the City Variety, whose visual identities would also be smartened up. Create a consistent visual identity between the three institutions that shows them to be part of the same company whilst simultaenously creating variation which celebrates them for their individual features. Similar to the approach of the Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle.

Many designers including Michael Bierut and Sean Perkins beleive consistency is the key element of designing a recognisable visual identity system.

‘Sameness is static and lifeless. Consistency is responsive and vibrant’ - Bierut.

'A strong, simple identifier that can imbue subliminal qualities of strength, security, trust and assurance' - Perkins.

The redesign would create a new overaching umberella brand eg. Leeds Entertainment Triangle that would ensure the reputation of delivering quality entertainment in Leeds was shared between the three institutions. Students in the Hyde Park area are extrmelely famiiar with Hyde Park Picture House and regularly attend screenings, however many have never heard of Leeds Grand Theatre or the City Varieties Music Hall. The oppostive is true for an older demographic of Leeds residents.The redesign would not only draw attention to the lesser known institions, depending on your demographic but showcase the attractions that go on there in a clearer more engaging and attractive way. 

Product and Distribution

Branding for each institution
Branding for over arching instition 
Advertising collateral
Wayfinding 
Digital
Print Collateral 

Feedback: This idea links well with my essay question and considering the research I have done for my essay I beleive the outcome would successfully improve the visibility and reputation of each of the 3 instituons. However redesigning the visual identities of 3 large instituins and an umberella brand would take a lot of time and could effect the quality and the outcome of the work. It may be worth considering the design of just one cultural instituion. 

Solution 2: 

Leeds is undergoing a multimillion dollar transformation, doubling the size of the city centre and rejuvinating the Southbank area near the train station. Holbeck Underground Ballroom, a tiny theatre space with a huge reputation for innovative performances but zero branding is in this area. Design the end to end branding and visual identity for the Holbeck Underground Ballroom, a cutting-edge theatre space in Leeds that will tie in with the development of the South Bank area. The design needs to reflect the bohemian and laid-back yet engaging nature of the theatre and be recognisable, consistent and honestly reflect the atmosphere of the theatre.

Feedback: The feedback I received for this idea was that it links much better with my essay and is much more appropriate for the time scale I have. It will be easier to design for as there are less performances meaning it will be easier to pinpoint the target audience and as there is currently little to no branding it provides me with a fresh slate to create an appropriate design for.

Solution 3: 

Design 2 solutions for the visual identity and collateral of an art Gallery, either real or conceptual, one with an approach that represents the overarching values of the institution (Ollin's Approach) and one that represents the diversity of the programming within (Bell's Approach) Then test the two designs on a target audience to see which approach is more effective / popular in attracting more visitors to the institution. 

Product and Distribution

2 x designs for branding the institution
2 x approaches to advertising collateral
2 x approaches to wayfinding 
2 x Digital approaches
2 x Print Collateral 

Feedback: This idea links well with the argument in my essay and would be a good way of exploring it in a practical way, putting the theories I have written about to the test. However it may be hard to test as people's opinions would be subjective of their aesthetic preferences therefore testing it on a 'which do you think it better' basis wouldn't be effective in decifering which aproach is better. 

OUGD601 - Essay - Second Tutorial notes and action plan

Chapter 1

Outline the points you're making and conclude chapter 1
Points: Honest, Values, Recognisable/Reputation

Chapter 2

• Look into the motivation behind the thinking for visual identities of cultural institutions. Why? and How? 
• Give examples, motivation 
• Which aspects of chapter 1 are they utilizing? 
• Draw Parallels
• Can the designer draw out a solution from the client by understanding the way the institution works? And not impose it? 
• When anti-branding is used in commercial brands, how do cultural institutions maintain a visual identity that differs critically to commerce?
• Perceived values as a cultural institution must be perceived to be different to commercial products. Where does this come from? 
• Ego gratification - Instagram, social media presence 
• Packard - The Hidden Persuaders
• How does the institution make money?   
• Cultural institution is always about being progressive and new. Design and art are driven by the idea. 

Read Naomi Klein: No Logo. (Anti Branding)

Questions

Send Questions to professionals based on what you've discovered in your essay. 

Send the questions to both designers and clients. Potential People:

• The Hepworth 
• People that rebranded Hippodrome
• OKRM - Exhibition branding  
• Moving Brands 

1) What do you think are the most important parts of (name of institution)'s visual identity?

2) Does designing for cultural institutions require a particular approach? Are there particular considerations? 

3) Do you think it is necessary for arts and cultural institutions to have a strong visual identity? and why? 

4) According to (a theorist) identity should do this ___ do you agree?

Practical 

Interview the Grand in Leeds - Contact them and tell them what you're doing, explain project. Interview them, their staff to find out about the grand and their values. 

Brand them: 

• Logo, Signs
• Posters, Banners etc. (3 Shows) Grid
• Tickets
• Wesbite, App