The Kadimah Jewish Cultural Centre and National Library was established in Melbourne in 1911 by newly arrived Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe as a “home away from home”, in a new, strange country far away from their families and everything that was familiar to them. Originally situated in Carlton, its leaders had the foresight to move, with the Jewish population of Melbourne, to Elsternwick in the 1960s.
Before and after World War II, the Kadimah, was a refuge for those escaping and surviving the Holocaust, providing a full range of educational and social programs, an inspiration for maintaining their culture and a support for settlement in a new strange country. In the 1990s, the Kadimah performed the same role for newly arrived Jewish people from the Soviet Union, and also nourished a vibrant Yiddish youth theatre. In the early 2000s the Kadimah’s focus was on seniors’ programs. This ability to change with the times is one reason why the Kadimah is still here after 107 active years.
Over the past three years the Kadimah Jewish Cultural Centre and National Library has reinvented itself as a significant Jewish cultural organisation for the 21st century. The Kadimah’s mission is the maintenance and reinvigoration of Yiddish language and culture, with a focus on sharing the riches of the Ashkenazi culture and our Eastern European Jewish heritage with the whole Australian community. They are committed to, and have had great success in, reviving and re-imaginging our wonderful tradition for a new era and a broader and younger demographic.
The Kadimah approached me to do a complete organisational rebrand, changing everything except for the Kadimah name.
The board's brief outlined a desire for something new, exciting, and different, while attracting a youthful audience. The logo also needed to include a reference to the organisation being a Jewish organisation with a focus on the arts. The Kadimah wanted to distance itself from the old colour scheme of navy and gold, but retain Yiddish as part of the logo.
Many different options and ideas were created for the Kadimah using a number of inspirations.
These include: the Hebrew/Yiddish letter 'kuf' which is the first letter of Kadimah, the Magen David, books, the letter 'K', the idea of going 'forward' (as Kadimah means forward in Hebrew), and the distinguishable stained glass windows at the Kadimah.
In the end a logo was chosen which is inspired by a Magen David and theatre stage lights, where the light beams cross over to make an abstract and arty Magen David. This was a favourite of the board as it focused on both the arts aspect and Jewish cultural aspect of the brief. As mentioned previously, theatre is one of the main focuses of the Kadimah's cultural events.
After a brainstorming session with the board, it was decided that the logo should use a gradient and use pink and/or purple as the main colours.
I decided to use both pink and purple, and colours based off the old logo, blue and gold, to signify the significant history of the organisation and its new, exciting direction.
Following the rebrand, I was also tasked with redesigning letterheads, flyers, posters, and business cards to name a few things.
Thanks for reading!
Thank you to Yedidya Kosman (www.behance.net/yedidyakosman) for use of the Pektorovski font.
