The Philadelphia Art Museum new brand identity created by Brooklyn-based design agency Gretel, looks to reflect the museum’s moves to become “more collaborative, engaging, expansive and future-focused,” according to the creators.
Every design decision consciously conveys the independent spirit of Philadelphia, from the custom typography that connects the museum’s institutional heritage with the city’s visual language to the revival of the iconic griffin in the logo as a protector of the arts.
The new brand identity reflects Philadelphia’s vibrant culture, reflecting how art impacts everyday life and resonates with the city’s diverse communities. It embodies the museum’s mission to bring art into everyday life, making it accessible, relevant, and deeply connected to the people it serves.
“This project is the result of more than a year of research, collaboration, creative development and iteration,” – said Ryan Moore, Executive Creative Director and Partner at Gretel. “Our main objective was to ‘come down the steps’ by putting the museum in dialogue with its community, which is and always has been the city itself. This new identity reflects the future of the institution: more engaging, more dynamic, and more inviting to new audiences.”
The identity focuses heavily on typography, and it tells beautiful stories that help the bold new identity remain somewhat rooted in tradition and heritage. Gretel collaborated with Ryan Bugden, an independent type designer also based in Brooklyn, to create a new typeface specifically for the institution, called Fairmount Serif.
The type has been named after the Philadelphia neighborhood where the museum is located, the typeface seeks to “connect the institution’s origins as the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art with Philadelphia’s working-class heritage,” according to Gretel, and the serif details are inspired by the museum’s original seal and engraved walls.
The new logo is powerful for sure – I’m not convinced it looks like a museum logo, especially in its roundel form and the way it looks on merch like pin badges, but perhaps that doesn’t really matter too much. Alongside the new wordmark the star of the logo is a revived Griffin, a character that stretches back over 70 years of Philadelphia Art Museum’s history and acts as, says Gretel, “an iconic and mythical protector of the arts”.
It’s certainly the most overt reference to the museum’s heritage, but the sharp lines and stark black and white make it feel timeless rather than backward-looking.
The brand’s uniqueness is achieved through a resolute and all-encompassing “Philadelphia front and center” position. It all comes back to what makes the museum what it is: the city itself and what has made and continues to make Philadelphia and its artistic output iconic.
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