28 July 2021 12:19

A healthy and happy rebrand for the RAD's future

Today, the RAD has revealed its new brand identity - its first refresh in over 20 years.

While it may appear strange to rebrand as we are emerging from a global pandemic, this is the right moment in our history where we have marked a century of teaching the world to dance, and are poised to move to a new global headquarters. This new home for dance, will be a vantage from which we will shape the next 100 years.

The new identity includes:

  • Bespoke typefaces, RAD Serif, and RAD Sans Book
  • A vibrant, contemporary shade of red
  • A new primary logo
  • A simplified coat of arms
  • A secondary colour palette

Before the pandemic, we carried out research to get to the heart of the RAD, to see ourselves through the eyes of our members, teachers, students, examiners. and parents across the globe. Working with Wolfe Hall, we deconstructed some of our existing iconography, namely the coat of arms, to inform the design process. One of the revelations was the strong sense that the RAD was a nurturing and supportive organisation that put the wellbeing of its students above all else. This led us to see our motto through fresh eyes: Salus et Felicitas – 'Health and Happiness' - something that we have stood for since 1937 when our coat of arms was created.

In our centenary book, Gerald Dowler writes, "The Danish Adeline Genée understood British society and its psyche quite well enough to strive for the cachet of a royal charter." Then, the charter and the coat of arms were important status symbols; today they remain a recognisable representation of our rich history and pursuit of excellence in dance teaching, but our motto has never had more relevance or resonance.

Our health and our happiness as a human race was threatened over the last 15 months and we have seen extraordinary resilience and collaboration across the globe as a result. At the RAD we have been humbled by the capacity for dance teachers and students to continue to teach, dance and learn in the face of adversity; we have seen how dance can connect communities and empower those, otherwise isolated and alone. Now is the time to take that experience, re-set, re-frame and re-build.

Find our more about the ideas behind our rebrand.