Zoo unites MOCO Montpellier Contemporain's three venues with a vibrant identity system

MOCO Montpellier Contemporain doesn’t follow the usual museum format, instead, it is an ecosystem of both an art school and two contemporary art centres. The internationally recognised ESBA art school offers diploma’s in the field of art and welcomes only 200 students every year despite hundreds of applications. The first art centre, La Panacée, is a showcase of emerging creative talent, attracting over 100,000 visitors since 2017; and the second, the newer Hôtel des Collections, is an exhibition centre for international works and serves as the main headquarters for the institution. Zoo, the Paris-based graphic design studio of Baptiste de l’Espinay, Julie Galand and Valentine Thébaut, was commissioned to create an identity system for the MOCO that brings together its venues. Just like the format of the institution itself, their solution doesn’t conform to the expected approach. Instead, it is a flurry of loud colours and thick, geometric typography that fills every canvas it appears on. Despite this gung-ho approach, the system can be pared back for more formal situations, as seen on the two-colour stationery.