Revamped Look for BBC Philharmonic for their Centenary!

Broadcasting Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic is turning a century old and to celebrate this auspicious occasion the institution was“ really keen” to move away from the traditional format of print for its latest campaign.

The Manchester-based studio, Modern Designers designed a digitally-led campaign featuring modular illustrations that can be reshuffled in a number of configurations to promote various concerts. They have also managed to reconfigure historic broadcast visuals into a whole new format for the BBC.

This season’s Philharmonic campaign was inspired from vintage test cards which were used in the early days of BBC broadcasting.

Lead designer on the project Jack Kimberley says, ”The framework of these cards presented a perfect opportunity to showcase the BBC Philharmonic’s history through a series of illustrations ranging from the abstract to the literal.” Sophie Douala is the illustrator behind the work, harnessing a soft and “almost emotional” style that, according to Jack, lends “itself naturally to the abstract and representational”.

This campaign composes geometric gradient forms, but the illustrator has also hidden historical easter eggs which shouldn’t go unnoticed. For instance, references to musical instruments and the broadcast tower at Alexandra Palace crop up throughout.

Additionally, to emphasis Sophie’s work, Modern Designers had added stricter forms depicting other relevant locations, like the Royal Albert Hall. The illustrations are accompanied by a couple of kinetic animation styles by Lucas Hesse.