Brief:
Create a bilingual identity for the British Council's Dressing the Screen exhibition.
Reflect the high-fashion and moving image nature of the exhibition through the physical graphics, way-finding, web presence, brochure and print design.
This is an exciting challenge to take the origins, history and pioneering role that British filmmakers and designers have played in the development of the medium to Moscow and beyond.
Solution:
Witholding the logo, there are two major visual elements to my identity: the cutting strips and the sun motif.
Through research, I found that both fashion and film rely on the practice of cutting. In both media, cutting is a method used to fuse two separate elements together, to produce something new. I believe that this ideal is aligned with the Dressing The Screen exhibition, as Russian and British culture are combining to create new media.
The sun motif represents both the ‘Rise’ of fashion film, but also relates to the manipulation of light used in projection. The colour scheme is inspired by sunrises and the Northern Lights, and can be replaced with practically any colour combination, whilst retaining a consistent aesthetic.
Visually, the overall effect is intended to subtly evoke Futurism, as the movement had strong ties in Russia, but mainly because Futurists were focused on technological innovation and progress, a motivation that’s shared by the pioneers of fashion film.
The typeface is fully bilingual with Russian characters, and instantly conveys a sense of fashion, and I framed the typography to associate the identity with gallery imagery, but also to enhance its sense of place.
