Dancing to the music: Polar’s work for São Paulo Symphony Orchestra is a must-see piece of branding

The new look for the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP) might just be the most brilliant bit of branding we’ve seen lately. Designed by São Paulo-based studio, Polar, Ltda., the identity for the orchestra is intelligent, emotive and alive at the same time. OSESP had “gained recognition through the series of posters crafted by Kiko Farkas in the early 2000s, immortalised in the book ‘Musical Posters’ by Cosac Naify,” Creative Director Bruno Ribeiro tells us. However, over the years, the orchestra realised that its identity wasn’t resonating with Latin America, and in seeking a rebrand, it wanted to distance itself from the visual aesthetic of European orchestras. At the same time, it also wanted to make the world of classical music more accessible and approachable – to both invite enthusiasts and connoisseurs, but also speak to those unfamiliar with classical music. This intention pushed Polar, Ltda. towards an identity that’s built on two layers – “a rational, disciplined layer representing the dialogue between time, rhythm and tempo, and an emotional layer that expresses the experience of listening to and watching the orchestra,” says the team. Graphically, this translated into two recurring elements – on one hand, there are the vertical ‘bars’ or straight lines that symbolise musical notation or rhythm, and on the other, there are the bokeh-like elliptical shapes, which through their movement and dance between transparency and opacity, abstractly evoke the emotional experience of listening to a great piece of music. “To visually express music and emotions poses a considerable challenge, and anyone attempting to do this will strive to make the intangible aspects somehow visible. It is a goal that goes beyond merely visually representing emotions; it also aims to evoke emotional responses from viewers through visual interpretation,” adds Creative Director Ronaldo Vidal. The ‘bars’ became the backbone of the wordmark, where they separate each character of ‘osesp,’ and provide a framework for the variable design to contract and expand, depending on the context. When seen in motion, the characters float freely, each contained in their own column. Being the primary visual element that connects people with the orchestra, the logo had to “emanate music in both its design and movement,” explains Creative Director Lais Ikoma. “We believed it was essential to incorporate visual cues associated with classical music in the collective imagination, with music scores being a prominent example. Instead of focusing on the staff, which has been extensively explored visually, we opted for bar lines that signify tempo and rhythm, a technical and disciplined aspect of music notation.”