Challenge

Boston Ballet is world-class on the stage, deeply engaged in the community, and a true leader in dance education nationally with its renowned Boston Ballet School. The new brand needed to carefully articulate all of these aspects, share the full story behind Boston Ballet and allow for the many doorways into this cultural institution to reveal themselves.

One of our biggest challenges and goals, from a design perspective, was to use the new image of Boston Ballet to help shift perception of “ballet” as an art form, make it more accessible, shift the understanding of what Boston Ballet is all about and to get a wider audience to connect to Boston Ballet and feel that the organization is open to receive them.

The new brand identity needed to reflect the depth and breadth of the company as well as its rich artistic direction, calculated risk-taking on stage, and authentic commitment and involvement to its broader community. The look and feel required respect and honor to the institution’s history and all that has brought it to this point in time, while simultaneously celebrating Boston Ballet’s vibrancy and exciting evolution today as it looks forward.

Effectiveness

The new Boston Ballet identity was featured in the press with scores of articles by publications including The Boston Globe, and was also chosen to be part of Design Museum Boston’s inaugural exhibit- Creative Capital: Designed in Boston.

Boston Ballet already has a long-standing and highly-respected international reputation. Through the new branding and an exciting online presence, Boston Ballet is now able to better share and communicate all that is within the company while better engaging with its constituents here in Boston. We focused much of the design extension and new brand energy toward the online channel. After just one year, Boston Ballet gained a very robust community online. Their online platform enabled them to tell their evolving story in all of its areas, while remaining very image-based and fresh.