6 cultural, creative and charming identities for museums, featuring North, Base Design and more

Looking for some museum-branding inspiration? You’re in luck. We’ve curated a selection of our favourite projects that reimagine the image of museums; from North’s boxy screen-focused identity for ACMI to Happening Studio’s vibrant and versatile visual language for the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD). We hope, like us, you are pleasantly inspired and can take the studio’s insights forward into your own research. When the international design practice of Karen and Masato Nakada, aka Happening Studio, were invited to rebrand the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD), they knew that creating a sustainable long-term solution would need to come from outside the box. Countering the traditional, static approach to institutional identities, their proposed identity – highly adaptable, yet contemporary and diverse – was formed as a result of understanding the dynamic and multi-faceted role of MCASD within the local community and beyond. With a diverse group of visitors in mind, the cohesive visual language maintains sincerity and clear communication, even in uncertain times. For one, Happening opted to break the five-letter acronym down into smaller parts, in order to make memorising it easier. In addition to an inclusive and non-hierarchal wordmark, the brand’s colourways are drawn from MCASD’s two locations; the city and the beach. Red comes from The Trolley, San Diego’s light rail system, beige and blue come from the beach, and the deep leafy green represents the palm trees. The colours, which can be seen in vibrant and complementary groupings, are designed to mix and match all the ingredients from its surroundings. MCASD by Happening Studio