Sadler's Wells . WildCard Brand identity + marketing literature

Sadler's Wells is the UK's leading dance house, uniquely dedicated to bringing the very best international and UK dance to London audiences. WildCard was a new initiative introduced to give artists the opportunity to present the work of their choice. Design studio Superfried had previously developed the initial identity, so after the great success we were briefed to develop the marketing literature for season 2 and 3.

Due to the very eclectic mix of performances it was felt that the use of photography was not the right strategy and instead we should take a more conceptual graphic route. With this in mind inspiration was supplied by favourite artist, Escher. His 'anything is possible' world's summed up the WildCard initiative perfectly. To convey its eclectic nature an impossible 3D landscape of meandering paths was developed that also concealed a subtle grid.

The underlying grid enabled content to be easily placed upon the complex background whilst ensuring that the composition always felt clean and balanced. Although the network of paths in the backdrop remained the same from season 2, for season 3 a halftone graphic shading effect was applied to enhance the illusion of depth in a clean and unobtrusive way.

After the success of season one the client had specified they were interested in pushing the brand further with the use of bold neon inks. So for season 2 a neon orange was adopted for the litho flyers. However, due to limited run the posters would need to be digital. Pantones were no longer an option, so to achieve a vibrant high-impact orange the lettering was applied as a die-cut vinyl. This was effective, but very complex. Consequently, for season 3 a vibrant 100% cyan was employed to ensure efficient consistency.

The second and third seasons even surpassed the first with additional nights scheduled to meet demand. It is great to see that Sadler's WildCard initiative still lives on today.