London Youth Theatre

London Youth Theatre, formerly Musical Youth London, is a theatre company for 13-23 year olds based at Seven Dials Playhouse. Their mission is to stage high quality theatrical productions whilst remaining financially accessible to its members; 50% of their places are offered free and they have aspirations to become 100% free to attend in the future. They offer experience, training and a safe-space for all of their attendees, motivated by the potential of finding the artists of tomorrow who, without support, might go undiscovered. 

As the company changed their name to reflect the broader remit in which they operate, we developed a new brand identity that puts it literally on stage, achieved by a simple framing of type, with blocks that resemble the curtains and slanted platform of a theatre stage. The identity is intentionally simple so it can be easily recreated by the theatre, consisting of bold typography and a core colour palette of red, white and black.

Across designs, text and photography can come out of the frame – or off the stage – an effect used to enhance an image, framing an actor, focal point or key message. Often theatre promotional materials need to be produced well before a show is cast and this allows the theatre to ‘brand’ stock photography as well as production imagery, when it becomes available. The frame can also be used as an overlay for quick implementation and besides the theatre’s distinctive red, additional colours can be sourced and matched to the imagery, which might be themed per show or per season.