When the historical China Opera Theater was moving into their new office building in 2005, and when one of its stage, Mei Lanfang Great Theater was about to be completed in 2006, there were still no VI system to harmonize communication. Therefore Bang hoped to take the opportunity to introduce a complete corporate identity system to this venerable institution for the first time.

Chinese opera has more than 800 years history. Among the 300 kinds of operas, Peking style opera is probably the most representative of all, with the largest audience. In China, it enjoys the title of “quintessential art of the country”.

The challenge we faced with this project was about how to integrate a logo showing deep understanding of opera culture & integrate the aura of its influence, history and reputation through visual communication. The wide range of use of the logo in different situations such as branded tickets, or integration in historical architectural elements was among the list of “wicked” problems we had to defuse. Overall, everyone agreed that the logo must have resonance within opera aficionados from different Chinese regions as well as with foreigners introduced to this art & culture for the very first time.

During the first proposal session, we adopted several calligraphic elements such as “京”, hinting a special kind facial makeup in opera. The president of the theater chose the design of a facial makeup representing both “hand” & “eye lashes” believing it was most appropriate to stand for the opera arts. The “half-face” design implied the “mysterious imagination” perpetually enveloping the legends of Beijing Opera.

Interpretation
The logo takes a detail close-up of a female actress’ face for composition. The artful emphasis, achieve an incredible ideal between objectivity and subjectivity, integrating Chinese-style aesthetic. We use black, white and red, three of the five element colors used in the opera, to connect with the profound Chinese opera culture. The logo represent an opera actress devoted to stage performance. The plum blossom image in the background remind the Chinese audience of a famous saying “the fragrance of the plum comes from the harshness of its growth”, in honor to the school of Mei Lanfang, a famous opera artist. The five petals symbolize several specific opera issues, like five movements, five roles, five face expressions, and five colors, five tunes, all widely used in operas. Together with the eye image, they form a mark of fluid aura.