Poutama Brand Identity Book

1. Design Strategy Outline

Who we are

Mission Statement:

It is our mission as a cultural institution to create a welcoming space for all which celebrates, informs and educates a diverse audience by sharing the cultural significance of patterns and motifs througout history.

Values: Inclusivity & accessibility

Cultural connection through open discussion

Preserving & exploring visual patterns and motifs

Characteristics:

Professional Fun & curious

Expressive

Educated & informative

Design Principles:

Minimalistic & modern Clean but earthy

Textural & visually balanced

Let exhibitions & photography shine through

Connected with the land & the iwi

Where we are

Located in the heart of Christchurch, bordering the northern end of Hagley park, 90 Park Terrace is a large plot of land located near retirement villages, shopping streets, and other cultural institutions such as the Arts Centre (800m walk away).

To the left, an image from Google Maps Streetview shows the view from the front of the property.

Steven Holl, acclaimed US architect who has worked on other museums in the past, creates light and airy spaces that support movement of people and energy. The exterior featured is a render of what the outside of the Poutama Museum would look like. The natural materials from the facade invite pedestrians, tourists and locals alike, in to explore the exhibitions. On the right side of this spread lies a greater perspective of the location.

Photo credits: Steven Holl Architects

Photo credits: Google Maps

Photo credits: Google Maps

Who we are for

Audience personas for museum identity created by Scarlett Tetley-Jones & Caitlin Parker

Who is in our space

Cultural Institutions in Christchurch:

Canterbury Museum

Toi Ōtautahi

Toi Tūmatanui

Christchurch Art Gallery

Arts Centre

Fanfare Sculpture

Heritage sites

Creative sites

Where we fit

Heratige Sites

Historical

Christchurch Arts

Canterbury Museum Museum Gallery

Community Museums

Poutama Museum

Contemporary

Fanfare Sculpture

Public Arts

Arts Centre

Best Practice

Competitor reasearch for museum identity by Charlene Anderson

Competitor reasearch for museum identity by Reigne Eltanal

2. Visual Identity System Guides

Our Story

Our purpose is to empower people from all walks of life to learn more about the historical and contemporary use of visual communication. Our brand and visual identity is centred around the Māori ritual chant telling the story of Tāne climbing to the highest of the 12 heavens to retrieve three kete of knowledge.

This is reflected throughout key elements of the visual identity, mainly in the logo, pattern, and colour.

The colours of the brand identity are based off of Pounamu, or New Zealand Jade, which is stewarded over by the Ngai Tahu, the prominent iwi across the lower South Island. Pounamu being used in jewelry and weapons, and the mythology surrounding this, also first originated from the Ngai Tahu.

Our logo, the Manaia, is a pounamu figure based on a mythological creature that moves freely through the heavens and is our guide on the journey.

Our key pattern, the Poutama, is a tukutuku pattern which represents the journey of gaining knowledge throughout one’s life, and some say that it represents Tāne’s journey to gain knowledge and wisdom.

Our grid and layout systems are based on the three kete and twelve layers concept, splitting important concepts, visual systems, and copywriting into multiples of three.

Manaia is our guide

Poutama is the process

Tane Ascends to the Heavens

Tēnei au te hōkai nei o taku tapuwae

Ko te hōkai nuku ko te hōkai rangi

Ko te hōkai a tō tupuna a Tānenui-a-rangi

Ka pikitia ai ki te rangi tūhāhā ki te Tihi-o-Manono

Ka rokohina atu rā ko Te Matua-kore anake

Ka tīkina mai ngā kete o te wānanga

Ko te kete-tuauri

Ko te kete-tuatea

Ko te kete-aronui

Ka tiritiria ka poupoua

Ka puta mai iho ko te ira tangata

Ki te wheiao ki te ao mārama

Tihei-mauri ora!

This is the journey of sacred footsteps

Journeyed about the earth journeyed about the heavens

The journey of the ancestral god Tānenuiarangi

Who ascended into the heavens to Te Tihi-o-Manono

Where he found the parentless source

From there he retrieved the baskets of knowledge

Te kete-tuauri

Te kete-tuatea

Te kete-aronui

These were distributed and implanted about the earth

From which came human life

Growing from dim light to full light

There was life.

Te Ara Encyclopedia

Logo

Manaia Definition:

The Manaia is a messenger and spiritual kaitiaki (guardian) of the sky, earth and sea.

Believed to be a messenger that moves freely between the spirit realm and the human world, the Manaia is a mythological creature.

Mountain Jade

Lockup

Clear space guides: Use the size of the P in Poutama to apply spacing around the logo. No other elements are allowed within this space.

Logo Variations

The lockup varitations for each exhibition over the upcoming year. These are to be used to promote each individual exhibition.

Usage

Scaling:

Scale in proportion always. Logo size has to be at least 1/9 of the shortest side of the document. No maximum size as long as the whole lockup is showing and not cropped off, and it is within margins.

Recolour:

Only use lockup in the following colours:

White Black

Kawakawa Green

Full pattern render

Changing text:

Don’t remove, change shape or font of, or add to text unless referring to approved changes for exhibitions

Using elements:

The manaia form should only be used in the context of representing the brand of the Poutama museum. Because of the sacred nature of the brandmark, do not distort it by removing it from it’s purpose, or crop parts of a shape off.

Colours

The colour scheme is based on different types of New Zealand Jade, pounamu. This page are the colours to be used, while the next page are the origins.

Inanga

RGB: #5b9a63

Kahurangi

RGB: #2e6b35

Kawakawa

RGB: #103714

Kokopu

RGB: #cc8932

C:18

Tangiwai

RGB: #7f5115

C:37

M:64

Y: 100 K:31

Raukaraka

RGB: #583201 C:44 M:70 Y:98

Inanga

This type of stone is a highly prized type of pounamu by Poutini Ngāi Tahu. It gets its name from the juvenile native minnow or more commonly known as whitebait.

Kokopu

Kahurangi

In early times it was the most highly prized of all pounamu. It was used to make Toki

Poutangata which were usually given to Rangatira. Kahurangi is named after the clearness of the sky.

Kawakawa

Kawakawa is the most common pounamu variety and is a very popular stone for carving because of its abundance and ability to hold most shapes. It gets its name from the kawakawa leaf or Pepper tree.

Kōkopu is most recognizable by its distinctive brown spots which are very similar to the native fresh water mountain trout from which it gets its name.

Tangiwai

Translated tangi means to (cry or tears) and (wai) is water the full name kōkō-tangiwai refers to a deep sorrow that is never completely healed.

Raukaraka

This stone variety is a rare form of kawakawa pounamu. It is named after the leaf of the karaka tree because of the orange colour that the thick oxidized crust takes on from the earth’s minerals.

Tuhuru Taonga

Pounamu Pattern

Pounamu Definition:

Pounamu is a term for several types of hard and durable stone found in the South Island of New Zealand. They are highly valued in New Zealand, and carvings made from pounamu play an important role in Māori culture to denote status and authority, for adornment, and for making peace.

Te Ara Encyclopedia

Tukutuku Pattern

Tukutuku Definition:

An ornamental lattice-work used particularly between carvings around the walls of meeting houses. Tukutuku panels consist of vertical stakes (traditionally made of kākaho), horizontal rods (traditionally made of stalks of bracken-fern or thin strips of tōtara wood), and flexible material of flax, kiekie and pīngao, which form the pattern. Each of the traditional patterns has a name.

Te Aka Māori Dictionary

ABC Camera’s x glyph as a photography mask and motif to be used within branding and promotions.

Traditional poutamu tukutuku panels, Christchurch City Libraries

Modern take on tukutuku panels using ABC Camera’s x glyph.

Poutama Pattern

Poutama Definition:

A Poutama pattern is a stepped pattern of tukutuku panels and woven matssymbolising genealogies and also the various levels of learning and intellectual achievement.

Some say they represent the steps which Tāne-o-te-wānanga ascended to the topmost realm in his quest for superior knowledge and religion.

Te Aka Māori Dictionary

Usage Guides:

The modern take on a poutama pattern can be used across all forms of advertising and media to increase brand salience but be mindful of overusing it and removing it from it’s sacred meaning. Uses when referencing learning and progressing through stages of knowledge are ideal. Do not use with any other photography or patterns, only approved pounamu pattern.

Poutama Mask

Usage Guides:

This more loose interpretation of steps is for use as a mask over photography or patterns. Either side can be used as the mask. This is a more abstracted version of the poutama pattern and therefore can be used with more freedom with other cultures’ patterns and colours. For use across wider documents and spaces.

Typographic Guides

Alignment:

Left-aligned and justified only. No rightaligned or centred text.

Rotation:

Right-side up and counter-clockwise rotation only.

Columns:

Aim to have text columns take up 30% of horizontal space within margins. Allowances can be made to change the width of the text column by 10% wider or narrower.

Title

ABC Camera Heavy 30pt

Heading

ABC Camera Plain Regular 26pt

Subtitle

ABC Camera Plain Heavy 16pt/20pt

Body copy: In one tradition, the god Tāne climbed to the citadel Te Tihi-o-Manono, in the highest of the 12 heavens, known as Te Toi-o-ngā-rangi. There he retrieved three baskets of knowledge: te kete-tuatea (basket of light), te kete-tuauri (basket of darkness) and te kete-aronui (basket of pursuit).

Avenir Light 9.5pt/11.5pt

Body Copy (emphasis)

Avenir Light Oblique 9.5pt/11.5pt

Caption: Te Ara Encyclopedia

Avenir Oblique 8pt/10pt

Grids

Grid Guides:

Using 6x6 (anything smaller than A1) or 9x9 (A1 or bigger) grids, and margins that are 1/9 of the shortest length of the document, we can achieve a visually interesting and well laid out design.

There is room within a modular grid system to be playful, but enough constraints to keep the system cohesive across large bodies of work.

Positive + Negative

Space:

The goal is to hero one key image or motif and for everything else to be supplementary.

Photography Guides

Storytelling:

Photography has the potential be far more engaging than simply text, but only if it is handled correctly. To create a welcoming and modern image of the museum, focus on telling stories about learning and appreciation, and enhancing our image of being connected to the land around us.

Subject matter:

Subject matter is mainly focusing on the exhibitions, both in situ and one-shot of items (use white background for these images). Humans may feature, mainly portraiture of artists and curators. Avoid awkward and unnatural shots.

Composition:

Create one focal point so that the eye is naturally drawn without complexity to the subject of the image. Avoid busy backgrounds and aim for symmetry when available.

Palette & tone:

Low saturation images, with low contrast, high key photography in portraits. Warmer tone treatment in post-production along with potential colour masks over images.

Lighting:

Use bright crisp lighting in studio spaces, avoid the use of flash to reduce shadows. When outside, use ambient and natural lighting. Integrating trees and plants in the lighting will increase the sense of nature in our photography.

Cropping:

Use wider photography when possible to give options for layout in different use cases. Cropping may be required to fill a template.

Tone of Voice

Characteristics:

Professional

Formal & succinct

Proper grammar and punctuation

Fun & curious

Enthusiastic & passionate

Focus on learning

Encourage conversation

Expressive

Welcoming & inclusive

Pioneering

Educated & informative

Respectful

Sense of awe

Trustworthy & intelligent

Nielson Norman Groups’ Four Dimensions of Tone of Voice:

Funny, formal, respectful, enthusiastic.

Vocabulary to use:

& Come on down

Invite friends & family!

Bring a mate

Welcome, kia ora

Nga mihi

Vocab to avoid:

And or +

Bring yourself to attend

Wander over

Good evening, ma’am

We’re not surprised

Oi bruv

Wazzup

Te Reo Māori without proper usage or translation

Message architecture

Across the majority of communication platforms, such as posters, billboards and SEO advertising, and social media:

Pull quote

1-10 word intriguing title

Across email marketing, internal documents and longer copy:

1-4 word title of topic discussed

Longer 3-10 word subtitles with humor and intrigue

Minimise text to avoid blocks of hard to read content.

3. Application of Visual Identity

Exhibition Promotions

In-store ephemera

The Poutama Museum Guidelines, October 2023