First Place Winner in Logo Competition for the National University of Theatre and Film "I. L. Caragiale" (UNATC) Romania 2012
The need for the competition was the building of the Identity Manual for the National University of Theatre and Film "I. L. Caragiale" of Bucharest, Romania, a process that would redefine the rebranding of UNATC.
The Brief for the competition included the identifying of UNATC with an icon that would represent best the university's mission.
The Target Audience:
- potential students interested by the UNATC programs
- students of UNATC
- the professors and staff
- institutions that work in theatre and film domain with who UNATC have partnership relations
- other people that might be interested of getting some education in theatre and film
The Message they wanted to transmit with the new logo:
- theatre, film, creativity, particularity, authenticity, uniqueness, tradition, inovation
Design preferences:
- the UNATC acronym
The Story behind the Icon
Unlike the other majority of theatre and film universities around the world, in Romania there is only one physical place for both universities. This cohabitation of 2 different entities was one of the personal guidelines that I pursued, considering it a design requirement.
Unlike the other majority of theatre and film universities around the world, in Romania there is only one physical place for both universities. This cohabitation of 2 different entities was one of the personal guidelines that I pursued, considering it a design requirement.
In the history of moving image evolution theatre preceeded cinema. The physical stage that would frame the universe of the theatre play was the proscenium. In the logo the iconic proscenium is the sign that represents the theatre university, while the strong rectangle represents the film university, also reminding of the way the cinema hall evolved in time and stripped down all ornaments, proscenium and details that would steal the attention of the viewer from the screen. The gradient of the colors is also not arbitrary. They represents the natural historical evolution of theatre to cinema the way drawing evolved to painting, photography, video camera, digital camera, and finally 3D camera. The choice of color, orange, was meant to give a boost of energy, youth, inspiring innovation, novelty, creativity and optimism.
The new logo was about to serve both theatre students as well as film students equally (past logos didn't offer that, a strong accent always being put on the theatre university only), also offering Romania a respectful image etiquette that would represent it outside the country in the circuits of theatre and film festivals and other international gatherings that would bring together people and professionals from different corners of the world with the same passions and interests.
Presentation catalogue for the 5 Logo variations I submitted for the competition
Branding Project: stylesheets letterhead
Business cards design
Color Experiments (demanded by the client after winning the competition)
The final version of the logo of the National University of Theatre and Film "I. L. Caragiale": the whole text centered just like seats in the theatre hall or cinema hall.
