Sean Brosnahan

Teatro del Maggio

Branding & Identity, Rebrand

Spring 2024

Advised by Silvia Agozzino

World Brand Design Society Silver Award Winner

Background

Teatro del Maggio is a premier opera and music venue in Florence, Italy that hosts a range of operas, concerts, dance performances, and school shows. The theater’s namesake originates from the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the third oldest opera and symphony festival in Europe dating back to 1933.

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The Problem

The theatre has struggled to find an identity that aligns with the theater’s contemporary architecture while differentiating itself from other Florentine organizations. The current logo is a stylized version of the “Giglio,” a lily that represents the city of Florence since the 13th century and widely used by Florentines.

The Inspiration: Architecture

The theater moved locations in 2017. Designed by the renowned architect Paolo Desideri, the theater’s new home is a innovative work of modern architecture that reflects a blend of contemporary aesthetics with a respect for classical traditions. The exterior is modern and geometric, consisting of rectangular forms that establish a sense of balance and dynamism that culminate in a prominent facade at the entrance. The interior continues the geometric shapes through the curved balconies, seating, and ornamental features.

The Archive

The theater’s archive had an extensive poster collection, which inspired the final identity’s typographic choices.

Logo Exploration

I explored geometric shapes to allude to the theater’s architecture, incorporating rectangles that reference the facade and circles/ovals that reference the grand horseshoe-curved balconies.

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The Objective

Differentiate the theater through an identity inspired by the theater’s contemporary architecture and performance spaces. Not only will the branding help the theater stand out among Florentine organizations, but it will align the brand with the theater’s unique, innovative facility.

Logo & Elements

The logo is derived from the curved and rectangular forms in the theater’s architecture. The curved, semi-oval forms allude to different facets of the interior, such as the the horseshoe-shaped galleries of the auditorium, the curved foyer, and the arrangement of the orchestra. The rectangular forms allude to the geometric exterior and prominent facade. The final logo is comprised of one element that reflects four times to form a circle, representing the four types of performances that primarily occur at the theater. This reflection of the element is also used as the primary behavior in motion design.

The primary design element is one of the four elements in the logo. The sharp perpendicular side of the element is used to frame text and imagery across different mediums, providing a consistent branding element.

Learnings

Branding is designing for user experiences. What I didn’t anticipate was just how much research it would take to understand the history, culture, and people of both the theater and the broader community. This project taught me that research goes far beyond visual aesthetics—it’s about deeply understanding a place and the people who shape it.

This project is the culmination of my time in Florence—four months spent living in the city, listening, learning, and designing alongside its stories.

b.sean@wustl.edu