The Edit: five projects including Compagnie et Cie’s vibrant identity for Théâtre de la Ville

Each and every day, we're lucky to discover dozens of interesting and inspiring projects from around the world. From global identities and campaigns to side projects and independently published books, The Edit is home to five of them; every two weeks.

Located in the Canadian city of Longueuil, Théâtre de la Ville is distinguished by its commitment to diversity; presenting theatre from a wide range of disciplines regardless of their social or economic background. Compagnie et Cie, a design studio located nearby in Montreal, were asked to design the visual identity and campaign for the theatre’s 2021-22 season. The result is a flamboyant graphic language that revolves around an unexpected use of Metis Digital Type Foundry’s experimental typeface Dot19 as a background texture. “It is about its power of expression as much as its power of abstraction,” Art Director Hugo Cavaillès tells us, “just as art does.” Dot19’s flourishing forms also act as a framework for the rest of the identity, giving each show its own distinct personality. This concept is further intensified through the vibrant colour palette, which changes to match the mood of the performance in question. “With a programme as diverse as the Théâtre de la Ville, the palette needed to be able to match pretty much every style, tone and emotion represented on the stage each night,” Cavaillès concludes.

The seventh ‘Extra Issue’ in the series, LogoArchive’s collaboration with New York-based publisher Standards Manual tells the story of the United States’ ‘Federal Design Improvement Program,’ with words from historian Bill Shaffer and two designers who participated directly in the programme themselves – Lance Wyman and Valerie Pettis. As well as the texts, its 21 pages are filled with 23 logos drawn from USIA and FDIP initiatives, such as the now-iconic NASA, EPA and Bicentennial logos, as well as a lesser-known collection kindly supported by Richard Danne, Tom Geismar and Aaron Draplin. Available in three different colours, the zine unites a diverse set of logos and places with a mesmerising moment in federal modernisation. Purchase

London-based design practice Common Kind have designed the art catalogue for Les Papesses, a private collection of artworks celebrating contemporary female artists. Faced with the challenge of creating an object to fit the ever-growing nature of the collection, Common Kind devised a bespoke cloth bound portfolio with interchangeable inner platforms. The result feels more like an art piece itself than a regular catalogue, making for an unapologetic statement that compliments the client’s brightly coloured interior through its orange and pink palette. In keeping with the project’s intention to utilise only female contributors, Common Kind chose Bastardo Grotesk from Giulia Boggio.

Based in London, Lucy Hardcastle Studio is a multidisciplinary design practice using interactive technologies, 3D visuals and moving images to tell complex and emotionally resonant stories. Taking on the challenge of redesigning their own identity alongside graphic designer Oli East, they developed a custom display typeface inspired by the importance of human presence and interaction within their practice. Utilising Helvetica Extended as their starting point, Hardcastle and East used wearable devices to track responses to materials; capturing data points from their brains, hearts and breathing. This data then informed the fluid forms of the ever-changing custom typeface, driven by the idea of living data ‘inhabiting’ the identity system.

Founded in San Franciso, Oxide is a technology-driven company providing businesses with servers that have the capacity and convenience of the cloud but the control and security of local hosting. Many companies, such as food delivery services and ride-hailing apps, eventually reach a size where running on the cloud is extremely expensive; making Oxide’s solution more viable in the long term. Designed by Pentagram, their identity takes inspiration from text-based user interfaces, command line interfaces and ASCII art alongside a subtle nod towards DIY gaming and retro computing. Working with Grilli Type, Pentagram created a bespoke cut for GT America Mono for the identity; incorporating the missing ASCII characters which can be used in the Monodraw art editor. As a result, the typeface can both be used for typography, and to create real-time illustrations on Oxide’s website.