The Background

The Irish Traditional Music Archive's purpose is to collect, preserve, organise and circulate materials regarding Irish traditional song, music and dance. It may be deeply rooted in history, but traditional music is very much a living, breathing art form. This was something the ITMA wanted to reflect in a new brand identity.

In an initial series of workshop sessions and one-to-one interviews, it became clear that ITMA's staff take enormous pride in their work. We were able to experience that first-hand when our design team visited the archive. Handling the instruments, listening to the music, and reviewing the ITMA's collection of documents, articles, manuscripts and papers, we saw the importance of embracing and expressing Irishness, but in a future-facing way that avoided cliché.

The idea

With its knowledge of the past and its constant engagement with what is happening in the contemporary scene, the Irish Traditional Music Archive acts as a reference point for the past while inspiring creativity today to a broad number of audiences.

Our goal was to engage in the same way as the Archive, to connect the historic and contemporary, and to engage multiple visitor generations.

The Execution

In the ITMA archive, we saw extensive use of Gaelic type (sometimes called Irish type or Gaelic script) in print materials. A typeface featured heavily in Irish traditional music, from lyrics in songbooks to pub signage where the music is so often heard, the logotype we designed is based on a modernised version.

Crafted to be contemporary while paying homage to its historic origins, the letterforms evoke a sense of dance and movement, the idea being that traditional Irish music is very much a living and relevant art form. The rich colour palette adds a sense of ITMA being rooted in Ireland and inspired by the historic songbook covers in The Archive.