Relaunching Southbank’s Hayward Gallery
Client: Southbank Centre
Strategic Service: Brand Identity
Team: Ophelia Stimpson (Strategy & Project Lead), Jack Thomas Taylor (Creative & Design Lead), Bond Agency.
Opportunity
Southbank Centre London’s iconic Hayward Gallery had been closed for renovation – and Southbank Centre’s Archive Studio came to us to create an exhibition and brand identity to celebrate the moment of its relaunch.
Since being built in 1950s Britain, Hayward Gallery has been steeped in a history of social and architectural change. We took the opportunity to celebrate the building not as a static historic entity, but as a living being that stands for heritage and community – and thus the exhibition and identity Heritage: A User’s Manual was born.
Idea
Heritage: A User’s Manual was founded on the belief that the heritage of a building is characterised by the continually changing contributions of its community. It featured perspectives on the heritage of Southbank Centre and, in particular, the Brutalist architecture of Hayward Gallery.
Artist and user testimonies on Brutalist architecture past and present revealed connections between the construction of Hayward Gallery and the life of Southbank Centre today.
Execution
We supported an exhibition showcasing the best and most exciting of Hayward Gallery’s archives with a brand identity that did the relaunch justice.
Building on the architectural concept of Brutalism for which Southbank Centre is known, we created a custom font and colour palette that captured the futuristic angular magic for which this concrete structure is known. We coupled this with a dedicated zine in several bold colours for exhibition visitors to take away and cherish long after the exhibition closed.
