Sadler's Wells . Northern Light Typographic branding for Nordic dance

Sadler's Wells is the UK's leading dance house, uniquely dedicated to bringing the very best international and UK dance to London audiences.

Northern Light is a season of Nordic dance performances covering various styles originating from geographic locations including Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. After the success of our previous collaboration, Superfried were briefed once again to design the branding and marketing literature for a new season.

During the discovery phase it became immediately apparent that such eclectic content meant a photographic route was not practical. Consequently, it was proposed that we should adopt a typographic approach.

The name led to obvious ideas of light and energy, both appropriate for the subject matter. Since the typography would need to fulfil a dual role – type as image, graphically leading the marketing material and simultaneously working as a logotype for the brand identity – it was essential that the typography design remained completely legible.

At 13 characters long, the bespoke lettering was initially arranged in a vertical orientation to work with the portrait aspect ratio of promotional flyers and posters. This composition had the added benefit of eluding to great height and the natural aurora borealis phenomenon. To convey an essence of light / energy an angled shard device was utilised to style the typography, images and copy throughout the marketing literature.

Use of the light shards created a dramatic effect which enabled experimentation with the typography – creating bespoke and interlocking letterforms. The angled graphic device was also used to maintain the branding style whilst dividing and containing content. To ensure versatility the typography for the logotype was fully tested to ensure it would also work in a horizontal arrangement. For the remaining typography, the typeface Quicksand was selected for its light, translucent styling and round, friendly vibe to counteract / balance the sharp angular logotype.