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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
Notice

Before

Latecomers

If you arrive late for the start of a performance or after an interval we appreciate that you will want to take your seat as soon as possible. We will do everything possible to assist. To limit disturbance to fellow audience members and artists we may have to ask you to wait until a suitable break in the performance.

After

Running late?

We’ll help you take your seat as quickly as possible, but you might need to wait until there’s a break in the performance. That way, we won’t disturb the performers or other audience members.

What’s not working?

  • ‘Latecomers’ feels like a slightly passive-aggressive way of talking about our visitors
  • Formal, stuffy language like ‘we appreciate’, ‘to assist’, and ‘to limit’

What’s changed?

  • Opening with a question to create a warmer, more conversational tone
  • Replacing formal phrases with more everyday ones: latecomers => running late, to assist => help you
  • Using shorter, quicker to read sentences — and putting the key information at the start

Source: Box office and ticketing FAQ

Examples
4.0.5