Covent Garden Minuet Company
The Minuet Company perform 18th century dance in full period costume. They needed a site to convey the flavour of what they do: baroque, colourful, elegant and dramatic.
The Company, in their glorious reproduction ballgowns, are their own best advertisment, so a photo of them forms the centrepiece of the design. The patterns in the background and header bar are dance notations taken from period instruction books. The colour scheme is based on the Company's informal costume palette - 'sweet pea' colours. The Company have always used a flourishing calligraphy font for their name, and I added a 18th century printer's font for the menu which continues the tone while remaining clearly legible.
Photos, period illustrations and quotes are used throughout the site, and a video page lets visitors see the Company in action. These videos are hosted on YouTube, which has brought a new audience to the site.
As few people now know what exactly a minuet is, a full page is dedicated to explaining a little about the dance and its importance in 18th century culture. To give a further taste of the world that the Company recreate, an articles section offers further information on various other aspects of 18th century life.
My involvement
This was a solo freelance project, entirely designed and built by me. The copy was also put together by me from a mixture of the Company's existing publicity material and various resources on 18th century history. I also had a lot of fun with two generous members of the Company taking the photos for the 'language of the fan' article, which was inspired by a skit that the Company often perform at their shows.
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