Pentagram has created the visual identity for Spiritland, a London eating, drinking and listening venue that houses one of the the best sound systems in the world.
Featured by the The New York Times and The Guardian, Spiritland is a cafe, shop and workspace by day and a bar by night, serving food by Owen Kenworthy of Brawn, one of London’s finest ingredient-led restaurants. It also hosts an active radio production suite - Spiritland Sound Studio - where programmes and live broadcasts will be regularly produced in full view. All these elements are served by the venue's sound system that plays all day, every day. Built without compromise by Living Voice it plays music with a clarity, definition and precision that is rarely heard.
High-end audio is the main focus of the venue and is in turn the focus of its brand. The identity is an ever-changing waveform that grows, lives and listens to the wide-ranging music it represents. Inspired by the aesthetic of traditional analog equipment, the identity’s many symbols are able to convey the technical brilliance of the system and the otherworldly feeling of experiencing it. These symbols also cater to Spiritland’s intention to expand and grow into new offerings and spaces, like radio stations and products.
Physical applications include purposefully subtle signage that does not distract from the music and Spiritland’s mixer, a manifestation of the venue’s core beliefs – excellence in creativity, simple, elegant design and the pursuit of audio perfection. Developed over a two-year period with Spiritland, Isonoe and Felix de Pass, Pentagram applied the identity to the interface to the mixer’s vapour-blasted 20kg, 10mm thick solid-brass front panel.
Digital applications include the design of Spiritland’s website, created to be user-friendly hybrid of a radio station, shop and venue space, and its social media templates, which allow for the regular release of fresh but consistent content.
Spiritland is founded by music consultant Paul Noble, previously of Monocle and BBC Radio, and Patrick Clayton-Malone and Dominic Lake, who previously commissioned Pentagram partners Jody Hudson Powell and Luke Powell to create an identity for their restaurant chain Canteen.
