This logo incorporates the New York City skyline with "Shakespeare" set in different size letters to both match the shape of the skyline and represent the diversity of audiences that come to this event. The sun rays in the back are based on the pattern of the seats of the Delacorte theater when viewed from above, and also represent joyful voices and music coming from these plays in the middle of a park, in the middle of a big city. 

The Task
Create a logo and identity system for the 2019 summer Shakespeare in the Park season. This includes: logo, stationery, miniature style guide, website design, street banners, posters, staff and media passes, tickets, a brochure/event guide, and souvenir goods.
The Solution
Shakespeare in the Park is a free, summer-long event in Central Park in New York City, produced by The Public theater. The Public puts on three plays over the course of the summer; the Summer 2019 season included Much Ado About Nothing, Coriolanus, and the play version of Disney's Hercules. The plays are free to anyone who is willing to stand in line for a ticket, and performed in the open-air Delacorte Theater. It's an exuberant, memorable summer tradition, and brings centuries-old plays to life for a new audience. 
A bright, but not juvenile, color palette helps portray the excitement and vitality of seeing a play live, and handmade elements used in season-specific designs (posters, tickets, etc.) add a fun and edgy vibe. 

The style guide briefly lays out typography, colors, and patterns to be used in branding for Shakespeare in the Park.

 The final stationery system for Shakespeare in the Park employed bright gold and teal and concentric circles relating to the logo to create a bright, open vibe.

Three posters were created for the three plays produced in the Summer 2019 season. Handwritten text, hand-doodled and photocopied imagery, and rolled paint were used to add a renegade feeling to plays that many might consider stuffy, old, or boring—which Shakespeare most definitely is not. 

The website for Shakespeare in the Park draws on the same teal/gold/magenta color scheme and handwritten text from the posters.

The street banners use imagery and text from the posters. Three sets were created—one for each play that season.

Three versions of tickets worked similarly to the banners, with one for each play during the season. The back of the ticket is consistent while the front changes depending on which play someone is seeing. 

The Media and Staff passes are to be worn on a lanyard. The media pass is mostly gold, while the staff pass is mostly blue to help differentiate between the two.

A water bottle and totebag were possible options of goods to be sold at the event. These could be sold at any of the three plays, but are still consistent with the other branding for the 2019 season. 

This t-shirt that would work as a souvenir for any of the three shows, but is still specific for the 2019 season. 

The program for the summer 2019 season contained a synopsis of each play and the dates they ran, general information about Shakespeare in the Park and their Public Works program, directions to get there, parking information, and website/social media information.

Process Work

Sketches for Shakespeare in the Park logo.

Type and color studies for Shakespeare in the Park logo.

Studies in different styles of handwriting with different pens for the handwritten text on posters and other event branding. 

Early poster sketches.

Above: The brain, Venus statue, and hand/sword imagery were printed out in black and white, doodled on in thick black pen, and then scanned back in to the computer for use in posters. At the right, red paint was rolled out on paper, then scanned in, had colors adjusted, and was used in event branding. 

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