Keeping a venue full every week might look effortless but it takes an incredible amount of work behind the scenes. Venues become spaces for the people and people become passionate about spaces that are important to them. From its inception, Fat Controller struck a balance as a live music venue bringing in acts that were blowing up (or often just about to), and switching into club mode where you could see out the night and maybe even the next morning.

The original branding was created by a revered Adelaide design studio in 2016. It had seen generations of club kids go through its walls and was in need of a fresh update to revitalise the physical and online presence of the brand.

Working in a small team, we built on that initial branding to help re-imagine. what a venue that caters to very different demographics could look like. We brought in a branding suite that flexed as a grungy, sweaty, beer-soaked identity for live events which utilised the original heritage logo.

The other half of the system was bold, minimal and fresh, still leaning on the core red and black colour palette but separating the identity for club focussed events. Lightboxes were rebranded throughout the venue giving it a mix of the old and new, and social assets and event designs morphed weekly to keep the people engaged.

The result was packed rooms and late nights.