Primary Works brands the South East Centre for Contemporary Art with a contextual, custom typeface

On the southeast coast of Australia sits Bega, a small town known for its scenic landscapes, delectable food and wine, and a thriving local arts community, poised to grow. To connect Bega’s art scene with the wider world of art, culture and ideas, the town’s existing art gallery underwent a dramatic transformation to become the South East Centre for Contemporary Art (SECCA), a conduit between the remote, beautiful region and the rest of the world. The building, which was previously closed off architecturally with a concrete wall, was opened up by adding windows and openings to the existing façade – the thoughtful work of Sibling Architecture. This architectural redevelopment marked a new chapter in the gallery's journey, driven by the director's vision for a new kind of cultural space in the region. The gallery reached out to Primary Works, a design studio based in Sydney, to craft an identity to complete this story. There were a few jumping-off points for the studio – the first was the new architecture of the building. “By opening up the façade and revealing the spaces within, the reimagined design for the building allows the local community to connect with the space from the adjacent town square, turning the gallery into an extension of the town’s civic space,” Creative Director Ross Paxman tells us. “We wanted to reflect this idea with a display typeface that spoke to the idea of ‘opening up’ an existing boundary, so the stencil became a logical choice.” The display typeface became the heart of the new identity – echoing the many sweeping, rounded forms within the building’s design and floor plan that inspired the circular, geometric letterforms.