Having been previously hired to create print materials for their end of year show, Absolute Dance approached me regarding their ambitious step in creating their own dance studio complete with cafe and retail space. It was clear the school required a rebrand visually and after our initial meetings it also became obvious that in order to successfully deliver what their target demographic were looking for, we needed an expansive strategy in order to uncover and align the requirements of the existing and potential users with what is great about the school.

Absolute Dance was established in 2010. What started as a North London dance school with 1 student has evolved into a community hub of fun, acceptance and energy.

The challenge was to expose the brand just underneath the surface - Absolute Dance is more than a Dance studio and school! It serves as a daily reminder to connect with the wider community, to embrace and experience life and art and vibrancy and fun.

The creative solution was to align the personality of the brand we uncovered - Fun. Disciplined. Community. Kinetic. - with a visual identity which echoed this energy.

The school speaks to its users with kindness, calmness, and confidence. They're genuine, honest, transparent, friendly, relatable and it was important to reflect this appropriately in a visual sense.

The Icon was born of discovering the link between the kinetic flexibility and dynamic movement found in dance and yoga. Simplified into a distinct graphic shape, it stands alone well as a distinctive Icon to create intrigue and is subjective enough to convey an ‘A’, an ‘A&D’ or as a shape showing movement which, when paired with the wordmark becomes clear as to its meaning.

The brand identity is Iconic and can be separated from competing dance studios/schools who rely on obvious and complicated ballet-centric imagery. It allows the school to stand out on all touch points from small digital aspects to large-scale print without heavy adaptations.

David has been more than our designer - he's our brand guardian and a trusted member of the extended team!

He has been invaluable to the process and the one constant on an ambitious project which has had bumps along the road.

We worked with David several years ago when we needed show programs - what he produced was beautiful and he was so easy to work with. We knew immediately he would be the only designer we could trust with finding the correct visual look which reflected the values that are important to us. We're so happy with the results of the rebrand and are excited by what is now possible for us as a school.

Joanne Mason - Principal & Founder