Always Moving: An Identity Conducted by Simon Rattle

Read the campaign story

The London Symphony Orchestra unveiled its motion-led identity in January 2017 for the season associated with Simon Rattle’s arrival as music director. The Partners worked with Vicon and the University of Portsmouth to capture conducting movement. That input informed an expressive visual language rather than a conventional portrait-led announcement.

Later WPP material presents the work under Superunion and a 2018 case-page label. Those later labels do not replace the contemporary 2017 launch or The Partners’ original credit. The sources establish the production approach and intended expression, not evidence that the identity itself increased attendance or made classical music accessible to every audience.

Editorial interpretation: an organisation’s own activity can supply a more specific visual starting point than generic category symbols. Here, motion connects the identity with the work being performed, giving the design a reason to belong to this institution. The value lies in the relationship, not the technology alone. Another team should ask which observable process expresses its offer before deciding that it needs an elaborate capture system or an expensive animation pipeline.

Editorial interpretation: data-derived imagery still contains creative choices. Colour, texture, pacing and composition can transform recorded movement into a particular emotional impression. That is legitimate artistic work, but it should not be presented as an objective measurement of feeling. A responsible adaptation makes the transformation understandable and preserves a clear distinction between the source activity, the design rules and the final expressive result.

Find a source activity that belongs to the organisation

Look for a gesture, rhythm, material or sequence that is genuinely connected to the work. Avoid using an arbitrary dataset simply to make the identity sound technical. Explain why the chosen input matters and how someone outside the organisation can recognise the connection. A rough sketch based on an ordinary observation can test that relevance before any specialist recording or production is commissioned.

Document the transformation rules

State which elements come from observation and which are selected by the designer. This helps a team keep the visual language coherent without pretending that it is mechanically inevitable. Rules can create useful variation across posters, motion and digital formats, but they should leave room for judgement. Test several examples to see whether the system remains recognisable when the source material changes.

Balance expressive imagery with useful information

A striking identity still has to carry dates, titles, access details and a clear route to the offer. Evaluate readability at actual sizes and under ordinary viewing conditions. Provide static or reduced-motion versions where needed. The system should make communication more distinctive without making practical information harder to find or assuming that everyone can comfortably experience the same visual effects. Keep the practical information hierarchy consistent across every variation so expressive differences do not require visitors to relearn navigation.

A small test for another brief

Proposed adaptation: create a fictional craft workshop’s identity from simple hand-drawn traces of a safe desk activity, using declared rules to generate three static poster variations.

Measure whether viewers understand the relationship to the workshop, recognise the family across variations and find essential information accurately. Compare the system with a generic category image. Ask what they believe the source traces prove, and correct any inference that visual complexity establishes superior craft or measured emotion.

Stop if the design hides practical information, creates uncomfortable motion or presents artistic choices as scientific evidence about people or performance.

• Use original drawings and no biometric or personal-performance profiling.
• Explain which visual choices are interpretive rather than measured.
• Include readable event information and a reduced-motion option if animation is later tested.