Hedberg

A comprehensive brand identity and design system for a world-class performing arts precinct.

The Hedberg (housing the UTAS Conservatorium of Music and performance spaces for the Theatre Royal) is a world-class purpose built, performing arts precinct located in the heart of Hobart. This complex and long-running project involved a series of presentations and consultations to a diverse range of stakeholders – all with quite different expectations of the project. As Senior Designer on this project, my role was to comprehend and balance these expectations as well as meet and exceed the creative and pragmatic requirements of a complex brief. The result was a brand identity system with an inspiring creative concept, that was strong and robust enough to handle a myriad of contexts, platforms, audiences and applications. 

A deep-dive concept process lead to the question of how can we embed every context of the Hedberg into the DNA of the brandmark? The expression of this idea begins with finding and illustrating the unifying element – Exchange. 

The Hedberg is a place of exchange. The idea of exchange can resonate across the many contexts of the Hedberg. It lives in the exchange of knowledge, ideas, creativity and inspiration within its own walls and with the rest of the world. It is a place of historic exchange, where on this one site, the stories, values, culture, the struggle and flourish of Tasmania’s past have a continuous exchange with the future. The architecture of the building is porous and open – it invites a social exchange between the Hedberg, its partners and with the public, arts communities and visitors to the state. 

And of course there is the exchange that exists within performance. Whether it be the exchange between artist and audience, student and mentor, practice and perfection, amateur and professional, performance lies at the beating heart of the Hedberg’s exchange with the world. Exchange transcends a building, its history – even its people. With this celebration of exchange comes a greater understanding of who we are and what we are capable of. 

Clients: University of Tasmania, Tasmanian Government, Australian Government, Theatre Royal

Studio 2019©: The20