With a history of supporting arts organizations, partnering with Minnesota Opera on their rebrand initiative was a no-brainer for Minneapolis MN branding and design agency Kick. No small undertaking, the Kick team started last winter, conducting interviews with stakeholders, opera enthusiasts and occasional patrons to get insights into perceptions about the organization, its work and the art form. Ultimately, “Reimagine Opera” became the brand’s central theme, capturing the organization’s innovative spirit and the vitality of the art form.
“When we started, we wanted to underscore MN Opera’s innovation and raise their profile as a world-class opera house,” says Nick Zdon, Kick Design Director and the project’s design lead. “MN Opera is all about cultivating innovation – like getting creative with sets and performances, not to mention staging bold new works … We collaborated closely with the MN Opera team, focusing on representing that sense of reimagining, both graphically and through new messaging that tells the real story of their trailblazing spirit…”
The new logo is built from lean and modern letterforms, with warm colors and a flexible system that reimagines the word “opera” itself – from a variety of angles. Delicate line accent figures visually represent literal vibration patterns of sound, adding a strongly themed visual interest. A comprehensive launch campaign will include ads for local publications, a website redesign and out-of-home executions.
