A Digital Home for Black Theater, Performance, and Community

What: To mark its 50th anniversary, National Black Theatre (NBT) partnered with Studio Usher to launch a new website that honors the organization’s legacy while supporting its future. The site serves as a modern digital home for Black arts and performance that is grounded in NBT’s history and designed to support its evolving role as a 21st-century destination for Black theater, storytelling, and community-centered work. The website expands on the brand system originally developed by Isometric Studio, translating their strong visual foundation into a digital context.

Goal: The new website was designed to further NBT’s mission of empowering communities through theater, education, and social impact. It was built to function as both a dynamic archive and a real-time hub for performances, events, and fundraising, especially during the organization’s capital redevelopment campaign for its future home in Harlem. Built to sustain long-term audience engagement, the platform ensures NBT’s influence remains visible and accessible during this pivotal institutional transition.

Notable: The new website serves as a cornerstone of NBT’s transformation by supporting the redevelopment of its Harlem campus while providing access to programming, educational initiatives, and a rich archive spanning five decades. It reflects NBT’s enduring commitment to cultural leadership, performance, and community impact.

Partners: Digital Citizen, Shena Patel

Rebranding an Off-Broadway Theater to Expand its National Influence

What: Studio Usher was hired to rebrand Page 73, a vital off-Broadway theater known for its commitment to early-career playwrights. Our work spanned brand positioning, mission, vision, values, tagline, and voice—laying the foundation for a more cohesive identity. We also designed new print collateral and a simplified, story-forward website tailored to the needs of a small performing arts team. Our collaboration is ongoing, shaping a flexible marketing strategy across print, digital, and social media channels.

Goal: To develop a visual identity and communications framework that could promote individual productions while strengthening the institution’s long-term brand—supporting a lean internal team and building visibility within the national performing arts ecosystem.

Notable: Studio Usher re-positioned Page 73 as an “ingredient brand,” a strategy drawn from the corporate world, rarely applied in the arts. Like Intel in tech, the Page 73 mark now travels with its playwrights, signaling quality and origin wherever their work is produced. This approach extends Page 73’s cultural reach without adding operational burden, offering a scalable brand model for theater companies and arts organizations.

Partners: Shena Patel, Adam Hayes

What: Public Obscenities is a new bilingual play written and directed by Shayok Misha Chowdhury that premiered at Soho Rep. The play explores the things we see, the things we miss, and the things that turn us on.

Goal: Studio Usher designed the key art in collaboration with Adam Hayes to help the production gain exposure and spark conversation about these important themes.

Notable: Studio Usher found it a very interesting experience to design with typography in a language that nobody at the agency could read.

Social Media Campaign and In-Store Activation for a National Nonprofit

What: Studio Usher partnered with The Mental Health Coalition to create a social media campaign centered on the mental health benefits of gratitude. Launched over the Thanksgiving holiday, the campaign included playful educational content, interactive graphics, and shareable social media assets designed to engage wide audiences across Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. A dedicated microsite and printed postcards extended the campaign’s reach, offering a lasting mental health resource both online and in-store.

Goal: The goal was to share the emotional and psychological benefits of gratitude through a campaign that felt light, informative, and socially engaging. Our ads on social media reached more than 9 million people over Thanksgiving weekend, demonstrating the power of a well-crafted digital engagement strategy for nonprofits.

Notable: Studio Usher collaborated with The Mental Health Coalition and Kenneth Cole to create an in-store activation at Kenneth Cole’s space, Temporary, in Lower Manhattan, bringing the campaign into a physical, public setting. Digitally, the campaign was amplified by partnerships with high-profile celebrities including Ariana Grande, Elton John, Justin Bieber, and Billie Eilish, broadening its reach and impact across Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

What: Studio Usher was hired to create a new website for Trevanna Tracks, the first (and best!) centralized and cloud-based software for the management of sync music licensing.  The efficiency of the software and the client-centered approach of the Trevanna team is in a class by itself.

Goal: Refresh the brand’s visuals and messaging in a way that is unexpected for a software product. Trevanna Tracks serves the music, entertainment, video game, and advertising industries. The leadership team wanted this site to have style like their audience, while still feeling friendly and credible.

Celebrating Vineyard Theatre’s 40th Anniversary with a Bold Website Redesign

What: After NB Studio repositioned Vineyard Theatre as one of New York City’s most celebrated Off-Broadway theaters, Vineyard sought to re-launch their website in celebration of their 40th anniversary season. The repositioning highlighted Vineyard’s identity as a community of fearless makers, dedicated to elevating unique and vital. Studio Usher was tasked with translating this bold new vision into a dynamic, user-friendly digital experience. 

Goal: The objective was to create a modern, mobile-responsive website that aligned with Vineyard’s renewed brand identity and provided an engaging, seamless experience for visitors. The site needed to make it easy to explore productions, purchase tickets, make donations, or become a member, all while reflecting the theater’s nonprofit mission and commitment to nurturing daring voices and transformative experiences.

Notable: Studio Usher expanded Vineyard’s brand strategy into the digital realm, ensuring the site reflected the theater’s creative spirit and commitment to innovative storytelling. The responsive design provides an optimal experience across all devices, with a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for visitors to interact with the theater. The site also features simple bold typography and imagery, capturing the essence of the theater’s process and performances while remaining accessible and visually engaging.

Partner: Digital Citizen

A Pro-Bono Branding Initiative

What: Usher Works is Studio Usher’s self-funded design grant for small businesses, created to support New York City’s independent retailers. Selected grantees receive creative services such as logo design, packaging and signage which are all tools that help shops compete with big-box stores and e-commerce platforms. The initiative is part of our ongoing commitment to branding for community impact and visual identity for retail.

Goal: At a time when small businesses face economic strain and shifting consumer habits, Usher Works offers practical, brand-driven support to help local stores remain visible, resilient and emotionally resonant within the communities they serve.

Notable: Studio Usher developed a social media campaign promoting the program. It was anchored by a custom T-shirt fundraiser that went viral on LinkedIn, demonstrating how social campaigns for local businesses can mobilize broad support and visibility.

Brand Identity for a French Bakery in NYC

What: Studio Usher partnered with Pâtisserie Vanessa to guide its evolution from a wholesale business to a direct-to-consumer French bakery brand. Our work included brand strategy, messaging, and a custom visual identity complete with new logo and brand style guide, tailored for a luxury food startup. The brand launched with the opening of a charming brick-and-mortar location on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, designed to attract discerning customers and reflect the bakery’s Paris-meets-New York sensibility. The project combined retail design, food brand identity, and packaging aesthetics into one cohesive system infused with that distinct je ne sais quoi.

Goal: The goal was to create a brand identity that captured the unique balance at the heart of Vanessa’s baked goods: indulgent yet light, sophisticated yet approachable, French yet distinctly New York. We sought to design a visual system and tone of voice that communicated refinement without pretension—ensuring the experience felt special but never too sweet.

Notable: The identity was built to scale across signage, packaging, and future marketing ensuring Pâtisserie Vanessa could maintain consistency as it expanded its local presence. The store’s location on the Upper East Side has become a destination for elegant gifting and everyday indulgence, a testament to the power of thoughtful bakery branding and design for small business growth.