the brief

Manifest had a new artistic director and an old problem: its posters looked like every other theatre poster in the city, a dancer mid-leap and a list of names. The company wanted a season campaign that felt like the work on stage, which is quiet, physical and often strange.

the approach

We took two colours from the company’s stages, a sea green and an electric blue, and photographed dancers against them as shapes rather than portraits. Faces are turned away or lost in shadow, so the body carries the meaning.

The identity uses one variable typeface whose width stretches and compresses with the choreography of each piece. Posters carry no names, only the title, the dates and a single image, and the programme is printed in the same two colours.

the outcome

The season sold 82 percent of its seats, the company’s best year since it moved to the harbour stage. Posters went missing from bus shelters within a week, which the company chose to take as a compliment.