Explosive and emotive: Landor & Fitch’s identity for Orchestra Sinfonica Di Milano is city-inspired

The Milan office of internationally operating creative agency Landor have rebranded the Orchestra Sinfonica Di Milano, which has been renamed from LaVerdi to better convey the institution’s deep-rooted, long-established connection with the Italian city. As part of this strategy and visual reimaging, Landor & Fitch sought to unify the Milanese musical and cultural scene and reintroduce the organisation to the public as something they’re a part of. The result is an emotive and inviting brand, prioritising its role in accessible communication and creative expression – led by its synesthesia-inspired, avant-garde bespoke typeface, TUMB TUMB. “We like to define ourselves as a small foundry, creating bespoke typography for almost every project we develop,” Landor Milano tell us, having developed the typeface in-house. “We called the bespoke typeface TUMB TUMB as a way of linking it to the onomatopoeias of Milanese futurism,” they explain, “influenced by the historical design of Futura that is very common in the city of Milan,” reinterpreting 20th-century type through a contemporary lens. “The small serifs are inspired by the angular architecture of the Milan cathedral,” Landor Milano add, “and by the juxtaposition of the facades of the buildings from the early 1900s,” nesting the brand in the city it inhabits. Similarly, Orchestra Sinfonica Di Milano’s logomark reaffirms its physical and cultural relationship with the city through its architectural forms, and also embraces the institution’s progressive approach, alongside the bespoke typeface, through digital interactivity. “The motion system of the logotype and typography is designed and conceived to be reactive according to the variety of music,” Landor Milano detail, “the logo widens and narrows according to the intensity of the music played by the orchestra,” translating an explosive, emerging energy across the identity whilst visually emulating early 20th-century artworks.