Barnbrook Studios creates identity for Kubrick exhibition at Somerset House

Barnbrook Studios has created the identity for the forthcoming Stanley Kubrick exhibition at Somerset House. The graphics for the show, entitled Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick, reference the director’s 1971 film A Clockwork Orange, and feature the spiked eye motif from 1970s posters (itself a reference to the make-up worn by the film’s protagonist, Alex). The impact of the 1970s posters is also shown in the typography used on “Kubrick” in the new identity, while the background orange again references the director’s most famous film.

Marwan Kaabour, designer at Barnbrook Studios, says: "The idea is to tie the act of daydreaming with the ‘organ of vision’, by producing a series of representations of the eye as referenced in Kubrick’s films. The eyes are then mixed and matched for different applications to evoke different themes, emotions and aesthetics. The artists featured in the exhibition are in turn going through the same process with the pieces they produced.

“The typographic makeup of the exhibition title follows the same logic. Each word in the exhibition title is inspired by the typography used in the marketing material from one of Kubrick’s films. It also aims to pay homage to Kubrick’s appreciation for using distinctive typography. When viewed together, the eyes and the exhibition title form an abstract face. The colour palette, orange and blue, produce an arresting high-contrast combination that recall themes Kubrick has addressed in his films like violence, sex, war and madness.”

Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick runs from 6 July – 24 August 2016 at Somertset House.