Project 2 | Soulpepper Analysis and Reading Response

After doing some initial research and looking at Soulpepper's current design system, I have a better idea for what I want to do for this identity project. Currently, Soulpepper's logo is mainly text-based, and has the added element of naming the three mandates of the company. The logo and overall other design elements also incorporate the use of lines to divide information and sections. I think some of these design elements could be utilized when I create the new identity system. I want to make sure to somehow incorporate an element that relates back to the tri-mandate since it is an important part of Soulpepper. I also want to incorporate this design element into the rest of the pieces we have to design. Since everything will be affected by this design, I've started thinking about the other pieces rather than just starting with the logo. Another design element they currently have is the use of negative space. The usually put information in the corners of the page or around the perimeter (like the business card and poster especially). I want to maintain the negative space that they have created, but arrange the text and design elements in a more dynamic way.

Another part of Soulpepper I wanted to highlight is the fact that they do classical pieces in a modern way. Since classical and modern are opposing forces, I want to bring in other elements that relate back to that. One idea I had was the possibility of incorporating curvilinear elements into the design, but maintain a linear organization with the text and typeface. One way I thought about doing this was having three curving "sound wave" lines running through the word "soulpepper" for their logo. Therefore, I want to maintain a typographic treatment of the logo (much like they have now). Adding too many extra elements would take away from the simplicity I think the design needs to maintain so it can go well with the elaborate illustrations and photographs for each season.

Reading the article by Paula Scher has helped me in the process of designing the identity system. I've only done one other identity system before this one (in Graphic Design II), and in that class we designed the logo first and based everything off of that. But after reading Paula's article, I realize that the identity design process isn't linear. Since everything should be cohesive and the design should work for all of the pieces, each piece needs to be taken into consideration before the final logo design is set. I always thought that the logo was the most important part of the identity system and that it should be designed first before going to anything else, but now I realize that since everything is integrated, it is better to think about each design piece and figure out what would work for all of them. Since the design pieces are so different (business card vs poster), it will be a challenge to find a way to connect all of these pieces in a way that works for all of them.