SEAT OF THE PANTS
Sorry, we can’t stay long
The founder of Seat of the Pants, Craig Joseph, was at a point where he was ready to take his itinerant theatre company to the next level. He asked us to help him figure out what that next level might look like. He needed a solid identity that would work within a certain professional stratum, as well as a brand that could be applied to promotional materials that would be attractive to both stakeholders and theatregoers. At the same time he wanted to maintain the bootstrapping character of the company that got its start “by the seat of its pants.”
services provided:
identity
illustration
custom font
print
digital
Logo suite.
Color palette.
Typography.
Pump Up the Bass
In our initial conversations we discovered that Craig had an affinity for mid-century modern design. A poster from one of his previous shows had been done in a Saul Bass style. We took that as our jumping-off point to begin design explorations.
In researching Saul Bass we gravitated towards his film poster work. The combination of stark graphics, cutout shapes, bright colors, and typography felt like the proper inspiration for the Seat of the Pants identity. A color palette was built from colors sampled from the posters (and the titles of the films inspired the color names). We wanted to emulate Bass’s signature chunky lettering for the logo but couldn’t find a Saul Bass font (and there are lots of them) that worked. So we drew our own, and named it after Craig’s dog Babs. Trade Gothic and Franklin Gothic, both solid mid-century typefaces, rounded out the typographic palette.
As for the logo, we arrived at a bindle, or blanket stick, stereotypically used by hobos, leaning up against a type of chair that would be a familiar sight on a theater stage. We liked how it captured the sense of always being ready to pack up and move on to another location, which is exactly what Seat of the Pants does. One play that takes place in a commercial kitchen was actually staged in a commercial kitchen.
The custom font Babs Sans developed for Seat of the Pants.
Identity explorations.
Evolutionary Outlook
For the debut play season using the new identity, type was set using a combination of Babs Sans and Franklin Gothic. Graphics were inspired by Bass’s graphic design style, overlaying outlines over solid shapes. The SOTP monogram anchored the lower left of each poster. For the second season, a new template was created with the titles, monogram, and additional text set at an angle. The outlines went away in favor of a simpler style evoking cut paper, which was especially appropriate for When We Were Young and Unafraid, which depicted the characters as paper dolls. For the 20/21 season, we swapped out the monogram for the primary logo. Trade Gothic Condensed was introduced and took the place of Franklin Gothic (which was still used for text on the back of postcards and on the website). Probably the most noticeable change was including cut out black and white imagery along with colored graphic shapes in the service of more complex and compelling storytelling. This more mature revision would be maintained through to the current season, and likely beyond.
2025 Season
The 2025 theme: The Responsible Parties.
The Children, Elephant’s Graveyard, and The Book Club Play
2024 Season
The 2024 theme: Omega & Alpha.
Grand Concourse, Amerikin, and The First Snow of Summer
2023 Season
The 2023 theme: Truth Be Told.
Trouble in Mind, Bach at Leipzig, and The Women of Lockerbie
2022 Season
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only one play was produced for the year.
Our Country’s Good
2021 Season
Apples in Winter, The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, and An Enemy of the People
2018–2020
Ripcord, Watch on the Rhine, and When We Were Young and Unafraid
Molly Sweeney, Smokefall, and The End of the Tour
Text.
Seat of the Pants website.
Finally, we set up a custom Squarespace website for Craig so that he could easily update the site on his own with new season information, fundraisers, blog posts that dive into the process behind the company, and archives of past shows.
Seat of the Pants is nimble by design, with overhead kept deliberately low so that resources can be funneled into actually producing plays and cultivating talent. It’s been amazing to watch his bootstrapped theatre concern expand as he’s gained a following and become a respected force in the region’s theatre scene. We’re proud to be a part of it.
Seen enough? Questions?
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