THE Art Institute of Chicago Rebrand
BRAND IDENTITY
Large-scale identity design for this internationally recognized fine arts institute. A wide range of rollouts were designed in addition to the new mark. The current logo for the Art Institute of Chicago is clean-cut and alludes to an older, Roman typeface, subsequently paying homage to the history of the institution. While beautifully minimal, I believe the current mark is static. Now people are used to seeing things in motion, things interacting with them so that they will be drawn to it. This is something I wanted to push in my rebrand: The potential of motion, of moving forward. Through my exploration and final design, I saw that this brand could be pushed further and could use an element of dynamism.
Front entrance of the museum; the famous arches inspired the new, geometric logo design.
This rebrand was very challenging. I sketched dozens and dozens of different marks before I reached a design that captured the Art Institute of Chicago’s core values and intentions. I wanted to create something that represented the museum’s incredible history and also its future potential. Moving away from the established, static mark, I found that the museum’s famous Michigan Ave entrance could be recreated through three simple shapes. This design not only references the institution’s historical architecture, but it also modernizes a well-known part of the museum’s brand. In addition to creating an entirely new identity system, students were asked to generate several rollouts (a fraction of which are shown on this page) to show practical application of the new design. I enjoyed making all of the different rollouts — especially the gift shop items — because I could add in some wordplay for the collectible souvenirs. It was also wonderful to see the mark on so many types of items.
