Roundhouse Rebrand

In early 2022, Studio Moross were approached by the Roundhouse and invited to pitch our ideas for a brand refresh. Through our initial conversations, it was clear that our experience, proposed approach and values were in line with the client’s brief, and we were awarded the job.

After a comprehensive review of the existing Roundhouse brand, we established that red was synonymous with the venue, along with the circular logo representing the site’s iconic main performance space, and so we were happy to retain these elements, developing them and further weaving them into the a new brand identity for the venue.

Our brand concept, Ignite represents the energy and passion of Roundhouse; it is vibrant, powerful, and distinctive. The brand has many branches to represent their various programming strands, multiple audiences and a core youth programme. The colour palette was broadened with bright energetic colours, including a vibrant lime, creating a neon clash and glow.

Leading with our new core brand colours, we wanted to evoke the fearless energy of light and passion, representing the Roundhouse mission as a haven for creative trailblazers, groundbreaking events and communities that are not afraid to start new initiatives.

The rebrand allows for freedom with an extended colour palette and diverse typographic system. A centre-aligned masthead answers the need for accessibility and brand positioning when the logo isn’t powerful or visible enough.

There are two typefaces as part of visual identity:
OZIK (Nuform Foundry) is used in headlines, creating a more youthful and memorable vibe; whilst Works Sans (Wei Huang) is used for body copy, is more accessible and allows for focus on the messaging.

The Roundhouse logo is now rendered in the brand typeface, OZIK and comes in three brand colours. To represent the brand concept, we created a hotspot which lights up environments in other areas of design work. Dynamic gradients extend the idea of light beaming onto content.

By introducing adaptable photo treatments we wanted to create an energetic, bold identity that represents young people. Image treatments and cut-out subjects used against flat, bold colours integrate and unify images into visual design and add a spark of energy and colour into visual content from different sources.

As part of the rebrand and handover to client, we built an extensive Brand Guidelines document covering all aspects of the brand and how to use them. This also included a toolkit in the form of a file structure containing all brand assets, which were in turn linked and downloadable from the Guidelines document.

Following the Roundhouse rebrand, we were asked to design a campaign to coincide with the launch of the venue’s new identity with the tagline “Roundhouse. All Round Powerhouse.”

The campaign is a celebration of the venue, it’s broad artist lineup, and the vital work that the Roundhouse does as a creative youth centre.

As well as the video we created for the brand launch, we also designed and print produced an extensive Out Of House print campaign, featuring 48 sheet billboards, 4 sheets, 24 sheet site takeovers, magazine ads, and on-site billboards around the Roundhouse building.

As part of the overarching rebrand we developed the sub-brands for various events programming and festivals that are held at the venue; these became known as the Roundhouse Brand Strands.

They are unique identities built out from the core Roundhouse brand that use design elements and styles in distinctive ways to keep each one feeling fresh and easily distinguishable from one another, whilst at the same time feeling very much housed under the Roundhouse core brand.