Museum London is looking to elevate its profile, raise awareness and reinforce its position as a cultural hub, all with a new look.

The supporting agency Friends & Enemies introduced a “friendly” new visual and verbal identity, replacing the museum’s long-standing serif font logo with a contemporary design system and a vibrant array of colours in service of warmth.

“We approached this process with intention and care,” says Abby Vincent, Museum London’s head of marketing and development. “Our goal was to create a brand that feels alive, welcoming and adaptable, something that can grow with us and reflect the many facets of our work.”

The timing falls under the museum’s current strategic plan, and aligns with a major milestone: the grand reopening of its Volunteer and Moore galleries last month.

Vincent says that refreshing the brand and rebuilding its website helped Museum London deliver on a key pillar of its current 2023-2027 strategic plan, which will guide the institution in the years ahead in terms of improved accessibility for programming and collections.

“Our goal was a logo that felt confident, welcoming, and adaptable across all areas of our work, from kids camps to our gift shop,” she says. “The connector logo gave us that flexibility (think Museum London \ Shop), while maintaining a sleek, refined aesthetic that aligns with the standards of leading galleries and museums, ” while steering clear of anything overly institutional, rigid or avant garde, Vincent says.

According to Vincent, the design system works seamlessly across brand touchpoints, especially in exhibition didactics, labels and promotional materials, where balancing diverse imagery and content is important.

“Each exhibition becomes its own micro-brand, so it was essential that our identity complement rather than compete with these unique visual narratives.”

Vincent says design inspiration included Remai Modern in Saskatoon, the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, the Buffalo AKG Art Gallery, and Friends & Enemies’ work with Art Windsor-Essex, branding that felt “playful, dynamic, and trustworthy.”

On the font side, accessibility was a top priority, along with ensuring the fonts could be extended to Museum London’s internal style guides, especially for exhibition and collection labels where italicization plays a key role. The choice, Bagoss, is a “bold and friendly headline typeface,” with DM Sans, a widely accessible Google font.

The museum’s “make the connection” tagline is featured across its front-of-house welcome signage, on pop-up banners dispatched at community outreach events and on branded stickers. It also greets visitors on the homepage of the institution’s newly redesigned website, also created in collaboration with Friends & Enemies.

The redesigned website has improved accessibility, intuitive navigation and expanded content, according to the brand. Visitors can now explore online exhibitions, videos, audio interviews with artists and experts and additional forthcoming digital resources.

“While many organizations aim to refresh their visual identity every 10 years, in the non-profit sector it’s often more of an aspiration than a requirement,” Vincent says. “A rebrand requires a significant investment of resources, and we focused our efforts on assembling the right team, making bold and thoughtful decisions and ensuring a smooth and intentional rollout.”

Museum London began as the London Regional Art Gallery in 1940, operating from the London Public Library.