Rough Magic

Founded in 1984, Rough Magic is one of Ireland’s most established theatre companies, producing a brilliantly broad selection of work every year, while also providing support programmes for emerging talent. The company came to us looking to help redefine what it is Rough Magic stands for as they face into their next chapter, and to create an identity system their in-house designer could use to represent the company and promote its various productions and activities.

After running workshops with the directors and production teams, we collaboratively defined a set of guiding pillars to be used to guide Rough Magic's broad output and communications moving forward. Following this, we designed an identity system that gave each production its own distinct feel, while also appearing to be unmistakably Rough Magic.

Using existing Rough Magic imagery, we built a system that uses colour and layout to create flexibility, and cropped-in imagery and bold typography to create consistency and create impact. To further push flexibility and consistency we created an animated 'stage' logo, that is used to promote a show or represent Rough Magic online.

The simple tools deliver a consistent voice across a wide range of different productions and across a growing number of promotional channels. Allowing them to say and do much more in a highly cost effective way.