Brief 4/ Museum Branding

These are some of the logos I liked for the graphic design museums I have already looked at. [See blog post.]

I like modern, type based logos, and I think they appeal to a younger audience and will relate to theme of graphic design for my museum design.

I'm starting off by having a look at museum and exhibition design to find some logos that I like, before I start playing about with many different logo designs myself.

A lot of these logos are recent rebrands showing that this style of logo design must be what the target audience are responding to.

I'm going to start by hand drawing logo ideas, and then digitally creating the ones I like best.

After looking at all these logos, I worked out that I need something which can be applied to a variety of products, would work in black and white or with a variety of colours, works at different sizes, is easy to read and understand and is relevant to the subject of graphic design. It shouldn't be too complicated to do all of these things and to still be understandable if it was placed over a more detailed image.

It needs to be appealing to both people with an interest in graphic design, and to a general audience who may want to learn more about the subject. So I don't want the design to go too 'hipster' or anything as I want people of all ages to appreciate it.

_________________________________________________________________

[Images from this Creative Review Article.]

One of the first examples I thought about of a logo design for a museum that I particularly like was the London Science Museum, which has recently been rebranded by Johnson Banks.

This logo is relevant to the theme of science, and looks modern, therefore making science seem more appealing to a younger audience who may have thought of it as boring. But it still looks sophisticated, so will also appeal to the family audience. I need my logo to be versatile like this, to appeal to the widest audience possible.

The logo works in a variety of colours because of how simple and clean it is. It also works well and is still readable when placed over an image. This is something I want my logo to be able to do, so I'll have to test this out.

 

I like how the font that is used for the logo is consistently used throughout their advertisements, so everything works together and it makes the font even more memorable.

While the colours that are used on the products are different, they all work together well as they are so bright. This example shows the logo also works as good scaled up to massive sizes as it would if it had to be printed really small.

_________________________________________________________________

National Media Museum

Again, the logo for the Bradford Media Museum is an example of a logo which works across a variety of colours. The logo I like best is the one on the coloured background, but I like how the logo can be altered to match whatever it is placed on.

Again, I think a simple text only logo in a font that is recognisable to that museum is the best idea, rather than going too detailed, as I want my logo to be as versatile as possible.

_________________________________________________________________

Museum of London designed by Coley Porter Bell

This is quite an unusual logo in terms of shape but I think that is why I like it and why it stood out. It is modern and exciting, but the use of font is simple so works well against the colour splurges, and stops it from looking childish. The shape of the logo can be changed for it to fit on to different objects.

 

Because of the distinct colour scheme, this logo is quite adaptable. For example, I have taken a screenshot of the URL bar as you can see just the colours can be used as a logo in places where the text cannot fit.

These are a variety of products featuring the logo, and as you can see by the rubber and bag it would still work with just two colour, as in the case the focus would be on the distinct shape. I don't think it would work as well like this but I think it is important for a logo to always be able to potentially work in black and white.

When designing my logo I also need to think about how it would work on a variety of objects such as the ones in the image above.

_________________________________________________________________

Manchester Museum of Science and Industry

This is a really simple logo, which looks really sophisticated and professional. Its simple one colour style means it could work on anything. I like how the title of the museum is abbreviated, and then the actual name of the museum is listed below, so that it is obvious what it is. This is something I think I will try with my logo.

_________________________________________________________________

Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum logo is also versatile, as while you can see the N can be filled with a colourful photograph relevant to the area where the logo will be placed, it would also work in black and white, as the N can just be left empty. This means the logo could potentially be different every time it is used, but at the same time it always looks consistent, which I think is a really clever idea, as the logo could literally be applied to everything.

One thing I particularly like is the distinction between Natural History and museum, because of the different weights of the wording. The N could also work on its own, but everything works together to make it obvious what the logo is for.

_________________________________________________________________

Imperial War Museum Re-brand

A bit like the MOSI logo, I like how the Imperial War Museums logo contains the letterforms of each word, as well as explaining what the logo actually is for. The shapes that the logo is sectioned in to are relevant to the shape of the letterforms, and mean that the logo can be used on top of everything, even a busy photograph, as shown in the images below.

While this logo is quite simplistic, it is one that stands out the most to me. It stands out because of the shape, and the use of one colour makes it easy for this logo to be applied to different things.

_________________________________________________________________

V & A

The V&A logo is an example of a timeless logo that will last the test of time, which is important for a museum, as a rebrand wouldn't be easy. It looks sophisticated, but at the same time, because of its simplicity, it can be applied in different ways, to keep in with modern trends, for example, see the shape that is currently being used behind the logo, that can be used in any colour to help the logo stand out.

 

This is an example of how the logo can even be applied to a busy patterned bag, with the use of the this shape. The bright colour keeps it modern and makes the logo stand out from the pattern.

_________________________________________________________________