Practical approach

Southbank Centre is a complex of venues in London, on the south bank of the River Thames. It is centred on the Royal Festival Hall and is Europe’s largest centre for the Arts, attracting over 3 million visitors annually. Following an extensive and complex rebrand by Wolf Ollins, Southbank Centre needed help to grow into their new identity and establish how to use it across a range of communications. The in-house designers needed help with templates, tools and practical advice.

Root and branch approach

It was our job to galvanise support, working with the internal teams to address their issues. We started with advice on how to work better together, how to brief in projects and how the internal design team could command more respect within the organisation. It was also necessary to de-construct the new identity and re-engineer it to form a set of practical tools. This involved re-drawing the graphic elements, re-defining the palette and developing a series of applications to help guide the team.

Major growth and success

Having introduced a new set of guidelines, internal support significantly increased. Templates were provided to help the team roll out the new branding, and the brand is now central to everything the organisation does, influencing behaviour as well as visual communications. The new branding coincided with a period of major growth and success including the development of a series of festivals, a key role in London 2012 and a significantly increased international profile.