Turn up the volume: MASS’ adaptive identity system for Melbourne Recital Centre responds to sound

Located just behind the National Gallery of Victoria, the Melbourne Recital Centre (MRC) is an iconic venue in Melbourne’s Arts precinct, which itself is about to undergo a massive redevelopment. “With a diverse program featuring hundreds of performances each year,” says Tim Kotsiakos, Founder & Creative Director of MASS, “spanning classical and contemporary music – the MRC is beloved by those who know it.”

However, newer audiences needed convincing. Following extensive upfront research, Victoria-based design practice MASS understood that the challenge in updating MRC’s brand was to honour its reputation among its core audience, mainly classical music enthusiasts. At the same time, it needed to attract a younger, more diverse audience who might view the venue as “too stuffy,” and hold preconceived notions about it, partly due to its name.

“With one of the best auditory experiences in the world, even first-time visitors – often drawn by contemporary performances – left profoundly moved,” notes Kotsiakos. “While MRC remains committed to classical programming, it is equally dedicated to presenting contemporary works and engaging a broader, younger, and more diverse audience.”

To achieve this, he says, required a complete redesign of the visual identity and the development of a new strategic narrative – ‘Music for the daring.’ “This phrase speaks to every music lover – those who dig through record bins, seek out new sounds, and take a gamble on emerging artists. It serves as both an accolade to existing audiences and an open invitation to new ones, honouring pioneering composers of the past and present while giving MRC the confidence to be bolder and more intentional in its programming.”

Taking the building’s iconic honeycomb-like hexagonal panels as a starting point, MASS built a simple and striking brand system, fuelled by the discovery that, while many people recognised the building, they didn’t necessarily know the Melbourne Recital Centre by name. By putting these striking architectural cues front and centre, MASS established a clear mental connection between the venue and its audience.

The wordmark, for example, features a subtle cropped shape that echoes the building’s facade. This feature also allows the logomark to flexibly adapt to different versions of the name, whether ‘Melbourne Recital Centre,’ ‘Recital Centre,’ or simply ‘MRC.’ “Since the logomark often appears alongside other arts and culture venues with three-word names, this unique design gesture helps differentiate MRC within the landscape.”

Set in Porteron by Ultra Kuhl, the primary typeface for the identity, the foundry also customised the font by creating alternate glyphs with diacritics. This enhancement allows for tighter line spacing when rendering European names.

MASS incorporated the hexagonal shape into the visual identity in various ways, using it as a frame, a window, or a design element that could be enlarged and cropped dynamically. It forms part of a flexible design system that allows MRC, with the help of a custom tool, to efficiently create promotional materials for any performance or event. As Kotsiakos explains, it enables the client to upload an image of the performer, automatically generating a unique colour palette. “The tool extracts two complementary colours, enhances their vibrancy, and adjusts them for accessibility, eliminating guesswork in colour selection while ensuring visual consistency across all assets – from street posters to event pages on the website.”

Likewise, from the audience’s perspective, animation and interactivity take centre stage, with MASS embracing motion and technology in the brand system. “Given MRC’s heavy reliance on online marketing and social media, investing time in dynamic motion design felt essential.” The studio developed three motion principles – Focus, Discover, and Immersion – that respond to sound in various ways. For example, their ‘Immersion’ technique splits music tracks into six levels, mapping each to a point on the hexagon to create dynamic, music-responsive animations.