Identity system · self-initiated

Tonreihe

A contemporary music series needs an identity that produces a different image for every concert without a new idea every time. Tonreihe takes its name from the twelve-tone row. Each concert is assigned a row, and the row draws the poster.

Client
Fictional, self-initiated
Sector
Contemporary music
Scope
Mark, system, print, screen
Method
Swiss school, after Müller-Brockmann
Built
CSS and SVG, no images
01

The mark

One word, one weight, one tint. The final letter carries the brand blue so the mark still reads as a mark when it is set at caption size inside a listing.

Tonreihe.
Tonreihe.

Left: primary lockup. Right: construction on the twelve-column field, cap height between the rules.

Clear space
One cap height on every side. Nothing enters it, including the row device.
Minimum size
14 mm wide in print, 96 px on screen. Below that the full stop closes up and the tint is lost.
Weight
Bold only. There is no light or italic cut of the mark, and no outline version.
Colour
Black on light, white on dark. The full stop takes brand blue on light grounds and season yellow on dark or blue grounds.
02

The row

Every concert gets a twelve-tone row: the numbers one to twelve in some order, none repeated. Bar heights follow the row. The first pitch takes brand blue. That is the whole system.

Why a row
It gives every concert a unique image that nobody has to design, and the images are visibly siblings.
Fixed
Twelve bars, equal widths, equal gaps, flush to a common baseline.
Variable
The order of the twelve values. Nothing else changes between concerts.
Tonic
The first bar of the row is tinted, and it is the only coloured element on the sheet. On dark and blue grounds it takes season yellow.
03

Colour

Two inks and a paper. Blue is permanent and belongs to the brand. Yellow belongs to the current season only, and is reprinted in a new hue when the season changes.

Ink #111214 · Pantone Black 6 All type and all untinted bars. Never a pure black.
Signal blue #1B2CC1 · Pantone 2126 The tonic bar, the full stop, and one link state. Nothing else.
Season yellow #E9E13B · season 26/27 Season marker only. Changes hue each September.
Paper #F4F4F2 · uncoated 120 gsm Ground for print. Screen uses pure white instead.
04

Typography

One grotesque for everything a reader reads. One monospace for everything a reader looks up: dates, times, prices, seat numbers, row values.

Display
64 / 62 · Bold Vier Räume
Title
40 / 40 · Bold Anna Bergqvist
Subhead
28 / 32 · Semibold Four rooms, one player, no repeats
Lead
20 / 30 · Medium A season of twelve concerts in Saal C
Body
16 / 24 · Regular Running text sits at sixteen on twenty-four and never exceeds sixty-five characters to the line. In a programme this is the only size that carries more than one sentence, so it is the only size allowed to break the grid at the foot of a column.
Data
12 · Mono 14.11.26 · 20.15 · Saal C · CHF 25
05

Grid

Six columns in print, twelve on screen, both on a ten-unit baseline. The row device always spans the full measure, so it is the element that proves the grid is being kept.

Poster and programme · six columns · margin 7 %

Screen · twelve columns · margin 6 %

06

Poster series

Three concerts from one season. Identical layout, identical type sizes, identical margins. The only difference between them is the row, and the row is enough.

Tonreihe.26/27

Anna
Bergqvist

Vier Räume

14.11.26 · 20.15Saal C

Tonreihe.26/27

Kenji
Nakamura

Statik

05.12.26 · 20.15Saal C

Tonreihe.26/27

Léa
Oyelaran

Fugue for Tape

23.01.27 · 20.15Saal C

Two house posters and one season-opener on season yellow. Yellow appears once a year.

07

Applications

The row scales down to a ticket stub and up to a hall banner without redrawing. At small sizes the bars stop being an image and start being a pattern, which is the point.

Season 26/27 · Programme

Twelve
concerts

Each evening takes one row of twelve pitches and returns it in a different order. The series is a year spent listening to the same twelve things.

Autumn

  • 14.11Anna Bergqvist Vier Räume25
  • 05.12Kenji Nakamura Statik25
  • 19.12Ensemble Halt Nachtstuecke30
  • 23.01Léa Oyelaran Fugue for Tape25
  • 13.02Marek Ilg Sechs Linien25
  • 06.03Trio Vester Umkehrung30

Programme spread, A4 landscape

Tonreihe. SeasonHallAboutTickets

Twelve
concerts,
one row

Season 26/27 opens on the fourteenth of November. Subscriptions are open now and cover all twelve evenings in Saal C.

Subscribe

Next · 14.11.26 · Bergqvist · Vier Räume

Website hero, twelve-column screen grid

Tonreihe. Anna Bergqvist 14.11.26 · 20.15 · Saal C
Row / Seat F 14 CHF 25

Ticket, 160 × 70 mm

Hall banner, 3 × 4 m

08

What breaks it

A system is only real if it can be broken. These four are the ones that will be attempted, so they are the four that are written down.

× Tonreihe.
Do not stretch the mark Set it at the size the space allows. A stretched grotesque reads as a mistake at any distance.
×
Do not sort the row A sorted row is a ramp. It stops carrying information and the whole device becomes decoration.
× Tonreihe.
Do not use season yellow freely Yellow means this season and nothing else. Used twice, it stops meaning anything.
× Anna Bergqvist14.11.26 · Saal C
Do not centre the type Everything ranges left from the first column. Centring removes the only thing holding the series together.