Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

This was one of the very first projects I worked on at Wolff Olins. I learnt a lot from Patrick Cox on developing this now long defunct visual identity for London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. We talked about the RPO as being Britain’s National Orchestra, so all visual material (including the mark) was inspired by the British landscape, floral and fauna. It’s not a huge mental leap to see the similarities between the fern leaf mark and the scroll of a violin or cello. The 1993-94 concert season was presented as a series of underground posters which celebrated and explored the British Isles (September 1994 is shown here). This was thrilling for me – I’d only been working for a year or two, and every month or so a new poster I’d designed would appear on the London Underground, to my immense satisfaction.