into various forms, an idea readily apparent by the overlay of octagons on the packaging. Garland aimed for intuitive design that was part of the experience of the product, fitting a purpose beyond its advertisement. His designs were bold and emphatic, as he believed that brands should “be manipulated according to the context and purpose,” not just to keep them fresh and exciting to push sales (Wainright). The modularity of Garland’s games was also reflected in other designs of “First Things First” signers. Ken Briggs’s famous typographic designs for the National Theatre (Fig. 6) offers a key example of a “cohesive brand style” that uses simple sans-serif fonts and bold colors allowing for future customization (Lamont). Briggs’s work served as the “basis for future designs” (Lamont). Briggs’s design thus did more than advertise a season or a particular play, it created a brand language for The National Theater itself. Fig 6. Booking Leaflets for the National Theater, 1966-67, Ken Briggs. This rebranding reflected the renaissance theatre in Britain was experiencing in the 1960s. In a press release announcing 1967/68 season, Kenneth Tynan, the National Theatre’s literary manager, celebrated the public patronage of recent years, now that theatre was not subject to disdain of Conservatives – he aligns them with Puritans who regarded acting as a “form of clothed prostitution” (Tynan). Public funding meant that the National Theatre could rebuild literally and figuratively – a task that required the “re-education of actors, directors, playwrights, and audiences alike” about the value of theatre (Tynan). Too frequently associated with “private profit,” according to Tynan, it was important to clarify that “We are not selling a product; we are providing 90
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