Denver Art Museum Brand Refresh

From: Denver Art Museum
Limited Edition: 15
Exhibition: Not Applicable
Material: Printed vinyl
Dimensions: 30" x 89" (76cm x 226cm)

Hanging Hardware Included

Summary

Marketing professionals and graphic designers are tasked with using both language and visual cues like typeface, color, and other elements to convey the distinct "personality" of a company or organization, commonly known as "Branding" or "Brand Identity". While construction workers at The Denver Art Museum (DAM) were busy giving the campus a long-awaited "glow up", the marketing team got to work updating its brand identity from the last iteration (which was 20-years old), to reflect its evolving persona.

Description

The launch of the new look was intended to coincide with the opening of the newly renovated North Building and new Welcome Center, but with construction delays due to Covid-19 they moved forward to launch the refreshed identity in September 2020.

The DAM stuck with a "wordmark" approach where a logo consists of words only designed in a particular typeface, rather than incorporating a graphic. The new mark focuses on the word "art" depicted in large lowercase letters, contrasted with the word "Denver" in smaller uppercase letters tucked in close at the top and "Museum" also in uppercase letters running the width of the words to balance it out. The result is a brand that helps convey a "welcoming, approachable, and inspiring environment".

These eye-catching banners popped up on light poles around the city in 2020 boasting the sculpture-like titanium-clad Daniel Libeskind designed Frederic C. Hamilton Building, with the word Denver Art Museum showcased prominently in white text. The text and image are set against a gradation of vivid rainbow colors that served to brighten the streets during a bleak time, giving viewers an exciting peek toward the future when they could safely enjoy the newly renovated sections of the museum. The new spaces opened on October, 24 2021. Both sides of the banner are identical.

Provenance
These banners were displayed around Denver in 2020 and 2021 to promote their new brand in anticipation of the grand re-opening of the North Building, now known as the Martin Building and the newly built Sie Welcome Center.

Artist
The banners were designed in-house at the Denver Art Museum.