Responses by Laura Stein, chief creative officer, Bruce Mau Design.
Background: Following the appointment of its new artistic director Christopher Stowell, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet (RWB) saw an opportunity to reinvigorate its brand to recapture audiences and attract a new generation of dancers. We were brought in to articulate a new brand platform, refresh its identity and design a new website that could support its next chapter both as an arts institution and a ballet school.
Design thinking: The RWB has a history of doing things differently—and our brand platform brought that into sharper focus. The logo focuses on the W as a nod to the rigor of ballet but also the ability to do something different. The communication type system also leans on certain letters becoming rogue characters.
Challenges: Convincing our potential clients that we could give the RWB a bespoke solution. We had recently done a brand refresh for The National Ballet of Canada that was well received—and that the RWB was aware of. We had a few conversations with the leadership and marketing teams at RWB about how we understand its context being quite different than The National Ballet’s and how that would create a different set of design gestures.
Favorite details: I’m really pleased with the typography system. I love the way the communication and logo typefaces live together and the expansibility of the both typefaces. It feels like dance but also feels unexpected.
New lessons: I love branding projects that are rooted in place because it allows you to learn about that place’s history and culture. I had never done a project in Winnipeg so the immersion phase was super interesting.
Visual influences: Our inspiration stemmed from the RWB’s own archives—an extensive archive with incredibly beautiful ephemera—and Winnipeg as the “gateway to the prairies.” Color-wise, we looked to the blue skies of the prairies, the black of the performance space and the white of the studio spaces. In terms of logo, we were inspired by the 20th-century railway logos, which you can see in the squarishness of our logotype. Bringing all of this together in a kinetic, dynamic identity was the exciting part.
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