In 2016, a team of artists active in the vibrant neo-burlesque communities of Providence, RI and Boston, MA banded together to create Shakesperotica, a Shakespearean burlesque collective. The founders reached out to me for brand assistance.

Together, we distilled language from the company’s mission. The group seeks to “put the bawd back in the bard” and, more ambitiously “to make culture sexy again.”

From there, I developed a brand language that juxtaposed the classic with the NSFW–black and brilliant fuchsia, calligraphic cursive and neon-inspired curves.

The two ends meet in the image of the feather, which could just as easily have fallen from the hand of a flamboyant scribe or a feather boa.

The combination of the initial “S” and the feather rounds out the image system with a concise icon for merchandising, etc.