CLIENT
National Museum of the American Illustration
ROLE
Art Direction - Brand Identity
THE CONTEXT
REPOSITIONING A LEGACY
The National Museum of American Illustration houses a rich collection of visual Americana that is often nostalgic but seldom recontextualized. This rebranding project challenges that view by suggesting that illustration is a serious visual language that shapes American identity. It seeks to reposition the museum with a new typographic system and editorial presence, linking its historical significance to a more culturally relevant future.
THE APPROACH
FROM GARDENS TO GRIDLINES
Inspired by the museum’s lush gardens and classical architecture, the visual identity draws from the elegance of old money aesthetics, flourishing yet restrained. This is then modernized through futuristic type choices, clean framing, and editorial composition. The result is a flexible system that mirrors both the fluidity of the natural landscape and the timelessness of illustration. Designed to act as a curatorial frame, the branding holds space for exhibitions across eras—past, present, or speculative.
The tear-away poster on the ticket can be kept as a collectible since, with every visit, the artwork rotates to the current artist being exhibited.
