Our task was to create the communication strategy for the 2025/2026 season of the Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc – a strategy that would express openness: towards the city, towards people, towards diversity and change.

At the heart of this concept lies the idea of a theatre that is not a closed system, but a living space of encounters, dialogue, and shared experience.

A particular emphasis is placed on the Mediterranean – not as a geographical frame, but as a cultural marker: a space of tolerance, multiplicity, and the blending of languages and identities. Rijeka may not be a typical Mediterranean city, but in its openness, fluidity, and capacity for adaptation, it embodies the Mediterranean spirit – in its own, distinctly Rijeka way.

This season also marks an important anniversary – 140 years of the theatre building, one of the city’s most iconic symbols. Yet this milestone is not only a look back, but a framework for reimagining the future: what kind of theatre do we want today and tomorrow, and who do we create it for?

Verbal solution of the campaign

The first step was to define a new season’s motto. We created the phrase:
Open – even when we’re not.

This is more than just a motto – it is an attitude, a mindset, and an invitation.
In Rijeka, openness is not declared – it is lived. In language, in space, in relationships.

Rijeka is not a typical Mediterranean city – but it is Mediterranean in everything that makes the Mediterranean real: in openness, in the culture of encounter, in the layering of identities and languages. It is a city of contrasts, where Central European discipline intertwines with Mediterranean spontaneity, silence with noise, introspection with expression.
“Open – even when we’re not” reflects this very paradox – tenderness and resilience, boundaries and fluidity. The theatre positions itself as a living organism that breathes with the city – not as an institution standing apart, but as a space of encounter, dialogue, and participation.

In this sense, the theatre is open to:

• the changes that lie ahead
• its loyal audience and those still searching for it
• artists who bring something new
• questions that are not simple
• voices that are rarely heard

This season is not just a series of performances – it is an invitation to come together and to take part. Theatre is no longer merely a place we go to watch, but a space where we create and participate – together.

Visual solution of the campaign

At the centre of the visual identity stands a symbol: open doors.

Doors are thresholds. A line between outside and inside.
In the context of theatre, they connect reality and fiction, everyday life and performance, the city and the stage.

In this campaign, open doors do not only symbolize a physical entrance, but an attitude: readiness, invitation, welcome. They do not divide – they connect. They do not impose – they allow.

Visually, the motif of doors functions as a flexible frame – adaptable to different theatre sections (Drama, Italian Drama, Opera, Ballet) and their respective content, while maintaining consistency through colour, composition, and form.

Each section’s colour palette builds a clear visual structure, but also conveys the emotional atmosphere of the genre – from the power of dramatic language, through the passion of opera, to the expressiveness of ballet.

The doors are also a metaphor:

• for entering a new season
• for opening new themes
• for a shared space, where everyone has a place

Just as doors symbolize transition, the season **Open – even when we’re not** marks a passage: from past to future, from closure to openness, from theatre as an institution – to theatre as a space of shared life.