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About

These guidelines have been created by the Barbican Studio, which is the in-house design team at the Barbican Centre, London. The Studio creates most of the visual material for the Centre. It is based in the Marketing Department and consists of four permanent designers.

The current structure of the design team was created in 2011 and coincides with a major rebranding project undertaken by North. The philosophy of the team is based on the visual guidelines North created at the time. These set out a flexible system influenced by the Centre’s vision of ‘arts without boundaries’ and includes strong visual elements that allow freedom and diversity.

For further information contact design@barbican.org.uk

Browse

Chapter
0.0 Our Voice 1.0 Invite 2.0 Show 3.0 Passion 4.0 Examples 5.0 Recap 6.0 Accessibility
Page
0.0.1 Intro 0.0.2 Values 0.0.3 Principles
1.0.1 Intro 1.0.2 Everyday 1.0.3 Personal 1.0.4 Shorten 1.0.5 Artspeak 1.0.6 Test
2.0.1 Imagine 2.0.2 Attention 2.0.3 Start 2.0.4 Concise 2.0.5 Qualifiers
3.0.1 Intro 3.0.2 Tell 3.0.3 Ask 3.0.4 Rhythm 3.0.5 Variety
4.0.1 Intro 4.0.2 Homepage 4.0.3 Season 4.0.4 Advert 4.0.5 Notice 4.0.6 Invite 4.0.7 Poster 4.0.8 Hire 4.0.9 Response 4.1.0 Report 4.1.1 Exhibition
5.0.1 Audiences 5.0.2 Cheatsheet
6.0.1 Language 6.0.2 Jargon 6.0.3 Headings 6.0.4 Links 6.0.5 Opinions 6.0.6 Images
Invite

Before

Hi [GROUP LEADER],

We are delighted to invite [COMMUNITY GROUP] to Barbican’s latest offer: A Community View of Into the Night on Monday 18 November from 6pm. This landmark exhibition explores the history of cabarets, cafés and clubs in modern art across the world. Discover works of art, many rarely seen in the UK, as well as life-size recreations of avant-garde spaces. Please let us know if you would like to attend and register by emailing community@barbican.org.uk.

Thanks and best, [NAME]

After

Hi [GROUP LEADER]

We’d love to invite [COMMUNITY GROUP] to our newest exhibition, Into the Night.

What’s Into the Night?
Discover the history of the world’s most iconic cabarets and nightclubs — from Mexico City to Berlin. Explore life-size recreations, and get close to artwork that’s rarely seen in the UK.

When is it?
6pm, Monday 18 November Interested? Email community@barbican.org.uk …

What’s not working?

  • Using corporate, slightly cold language: ‘we are delighted’, ‘latest offer’, ‘attend and register’.

What’s changed?

  • Replacing formal language with more everyday words: we are delighted => we’d love to invite, latest offer => newest exhibition
  • Using questions to make detail quicker and easier to understand
  • Using calls to action to make the exhibition sound more exciting: Discover the history, Explore life-size recreations

Source: Community View invitation email

Examples
4.0.6