Brand identity for Théâtre de la Marionnette à Paris, a contemporary puppet theatre company

 

‘Théâtre de la Marionnette à Paris’ is a puppet theatre dedicated to the puppet art in all its forms, from kids shows to experimental and conceptual creations, even light and sounds shows for a more adult audience. This institution explores the practice of puppets from tradition to modernity with great variety and imagination in French and international productions.
The challenge of this assignement was to offer a new vision of the puppet art around the concept of object and animation theatre. I wished to express the concept of manual creation in order to expand from the classic puppet show vision of this art. I therefore chose to use paper creations for the visual identity and campaign materials, as a reminder of the fact that most puppets and puppet shows in this institution are hand made. I also decided to use typography on the posters for the materialist nature of object theatre as well as in an effort to preserve the nature of those shows: mysterious, intense, unexpected. That way, words became a metaphor for the puppets themselves, hand made creations. The main element in this identity revolves around the initials of the institution - T.M.P - which I stylized as a logotype, an emblem and the main component of the posters. It allowed me to deal with the very long name of the institution (!) and to define a strong identity for the campaign in an aesthetic and unexpected way prone to variations from one media to another. The fonts - Base Nine and Base Twelve - gave an amusing twist to the whole.