Bradford Theatres
A complete visual overhaul for a group of iconic performing arts venues in Yorkshire
Bradford Theatres are a celebrated group of four distinct physical venues around Bradford in West Yorkshire, offering audiences a wide range of live performances and events - everything from plays and musicals to stand up comedy and live music. I was tasked with creating a brand refresh and digital design that would reposition the organisation and its venues, representing them as "A viable option for a Saturday night out for everyone", moving against the traditional view of theatres as stuffy, old-fashioned and often elitist establishments.
To achieve this, I looked beyond their peers in the theatre world and found inspiration in other areas, such as cinemas, sporting venues and restaurants. I visited the venues themselves and tried to soak up the atmosphere of being there myself, giving me a clear direction for how the site should feel.
I created a visual and motion language that tried to emulate the feeling of actually being there in person, the dark of the theatre itself, the smoke, the spotlights, the ambience. It was also crucial to develop a clean and uncluttered UI that would be accessible to the wide variety of users that come to the site, allowing anyone to quickly find and book a show at the venue of their choice.
I created a visual and motion language that tried to emulate the feeling of actually being there in person, the dark of the theatre itself, the smoke, the spotlights, the ambience. It was also crucial to develop a clean and uncluttered UI that would be accessible to the wide variety of users that come to the site, allowing anyone to quickly find and book a show at the venue of their choice.
Event theming
Bradford Theatres attract some big names within the theatre world, often with very high quality assets - and I wanted to give them the tools to be able to create bespoke events pages that went beyond a generic template. I designed a series of colour themes which could be applied to each page whilst still maintaining WCAG 2.1 colour compliance standards, echoing the visual language of the event itself and adding variety to the many events themselves. The hero system for events is modular, meaning they work with or without a hero image, with or without an event poster, and offer Bradford Theatres several options in terms of page layout, depending on what assets they are supplied with.
The end result is a website and brand that not only am I proud of creating, but that Bradford Theatres themselves are very happy with. Please visit the live site to see for yourself: