AV Arena
Dance is for everybody
Brief
AV ARENA is a newly opened, multi-disciplinary dance studio in the heart of Chennai. The object was to create a strong logo identity and visual system that would portray their core message - The expressive art of dance is for each and every person out there.
I designed an identity solution that represented a free-flowing dancer originating from the brand letters - A and V. This was a symbolism of AV Arena being a comfortable space where anyone can bring out the free-flowing, fearless dancer within them.
Design Process
01 - Learn and Discovery
Client Interviews, Project Research, Visual Research
02 - Creative Direction
Brainstorming, Visual Concept Ideation
03 - Visual Design
Sketching, Development, Visual Design Output
01 - Learn and Discovery
In this initial phase, I carried out comprehensive client interviews to get an in-depth idea of their business.
Topics covered included the mission & vision of the brand, moods they were looking to portray, audience groups they were going to target, tone of voice, the brand’s unique selling points and other key considerations.
I also carried out some research on competitors & similar brands in the industry to see how their brand values were communicated visually.
02 - Creative Direction
Next, I started to ideate by reflecting back on the client interviews & listing out qualities and aspects that were mentioned.
I tried to make connections with the qualities identified and find ways in which they can be portrayed visually.
Creative avenues identified were:
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Elation - both physically and mentally
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Positive energy
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Free-flowing movement
Finally, I looked to identify possible design styles, design principles and traits that would communicate the right message, invoke the right emotions and tone of voice.
03 - Visual Design
I wanted the logo to personify freedom of movement and positive energy. I did this experimenting with flowy lines that could make up the letters A & V.
Out of 3 concepts, the one with a dancer in action originating from the letters A & V was chosen and developed.
The curved lines represent flexibility, both physically and emotionally. The solid bases on the top and bottom represent a solid platform where this self-discovery can take place.
Colour scheme
Through the brand colours, I wanted to express the elated emotions that one feels while dancing their heart out.
I chose vibrant colours in the purple, orange and yellow shades as primary colours. These colours would also be part of a gradient system. I chose black and dark purple bases for application in backgrounds, typography and other instances sparingly.
Typography
For the headings, I felt the usage of a tall, condensed font with sublte curved aspects would really bring out the intended mood. It was also suitable for large formats such as billboards and interior design spaces. For smaller texts and paragraphs, I chose a modern, clean font with a lot of variations and styles.
Image Treatment
For the imagery, I wanted it to be colourful and vibrant. Images with people in motion were used to bring out the elated moods. Gradients with the brand colours were blended into the images to give them a vibrant pop.
