burgtheater wien
concept, art direction and design of the visual identity of the renowned burgtheater wien in vienna (made at raffinerie). the institution is considered to be the most important german language theatre in the world. it was built in 1741 and has become known as ‹burg› by the viennese population.
the identity was based on a flexible logo system that reflects the play with language in theater. each version of the logo tells a story. theoretically, there are infinite variations of the logo.
to introduce the new logo system to the residents of vienna, an extensive poster campaign was mounted throughout the city.
the first season preview had an open binding, super-lightweight paper, and was strictly designed in black and white – only the gilt edge refers to the old and pompous building of the theater in vienna.
due to the complexity of the burgtheater (four stages at two different venues), a simple and clear hierarchy was developed for the monthly leporello programme. the big black words correspond to the content of the plays and give every month a unique structure.
every play is accompied by a program. the cover of each booklet shows an excerpt of the particular text. inside, a special picture language is developed in cooperation with the artistic direction, which gives every booklet its own ambience.
for the following season preview, we’ve randomly compiled the actors’ portraits to create ‹new characters› on loose sheets of paper. they are held together by only a rubber band and can be freely rearranged.
the accompanying booklet is a comprehensive lexicon including images and all the important information.
credits
made at raffinerie with nenad kovacic, beni bischof (drawings), peter rigaud (portraits)
burgtheater wien: matthias hartmann (direction), klaus missbach, annette friebe (dramaturgy)