Picturehouse Rebrand

Agency: Picturehouse (Inhouse)

In late 2018, Picturehouse Cinemas and Picturehouse Entertainment had a rebrand. A new custom logo was created by Alison Carmichael with the inhouse design team at Picturehouse. The aim was to create an identity that would position the brand as not just a place to watch films, but a lifestyle built around cinema.

Before the rebrand, each of the 20+ cinemas had it’s own logo and brand, created to promote the unique history of each cinema. While it gave a strong identity to each site Picturehouse itself was often seen as an after thought, and sometimes forgotten entirely. The branding project’s aim was to bring Picturehouse to the forefront while still showcasing the superb family of cinemas.

You can read more about the rebrand project itself at designer Paul Stapleton’s website

The new logo represents all aspects of Picturehouse, creating a single brand system for the entire group as well as existing and future cinemas. The new logotype is paired with individual cinema names creating a suite of lock-ups which promote brand consistency. The new brand mark will be used across every touchpoint, from the signage at cinemas, to membership cards carried by consumers, to the digital app.

Paul Stapleton - Designer at Picturehouse

Picturehouse Digital Templates

One of the main places the new brand is being rolled out is through trailers and idents for Picturehouse Strands (you can see more about them here). We used the rebrand as an opportunity to take stock of the old trailers and see what did and didn’t work. We found that while the trailers worked, there was a lot of information that people couldn’t take in, or was easily missed. We also noticed people would sometimes watch the trailers and still not be sure on the concept behind the strand of films.

I wanted to address this by simplifying the trailer end cards by providing a single call to action whenever possible, usually the Picturehouse website, and then having more engaging content in the main body of the trailers.

I worked on template that would help to make these things possible and also offer consitency across the multiple strands that Picturehouse offer. The new trailers also had a much greater consideration for the sponsorships that often run with Picturehouse strands.

Along with the update to the Picturehouse Idents was a much needed refresh of the Picturehouse Entertainment sting. We worked through several ideas on how to create something that was fun without feeling out of place on the types of films that Picturehouse Entertainment distribute. We also used this opportunity to explore if the name of Picturehouse Entertainment was working for the brand, or if it could/should be updated. Ultimately the name stuck, but with a much bigger emphasis on Picturehouse.

Credits:
Logotype - Alison Carmichael
Brand - Paul Stapleton, Luke Smith
Animation - Luke Smith