A COMPELLING IDENTITY
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COMPELLING IDENTITY: Write and submit a very short illustrated essay on a new brand identity that you believe is a perfect blend of idea and form.
COMPELLING IDENTITY: Is who you are, a container of meaning. Distinctive: The easier the better. Protectable, memorable Appropriate: Like a mission statement. Robust: Works in all media, can be reproduced in Black and white. Legible in small/big sides. Having enough integrity and presence. Enduring: Stay fresh. Not trendy. Appropriate for future product/services. Keep the essence for decades.
Appropriate: To the ideas and activities it represents. Its use and media must be consistent. Legible: In every single platform. In color, black/white. Consistent: Continuity by providing guidelines. Bypass rigid display formulas in favor of a flexible graphic system that are well suited to such applications as advertisement, internet, etc. Flexible: Has to work everywhere. Small, big, screen, cards. Memorable: Must be familiar enough to be memorable. Simply enough to be read in an instant, jet rich enough to be interesting and engaging. Enduring: Long view in designing a logo, so what it is contemporary enough to reflect its moment yet no so trendy as to appear dated before it is time. Nothing dulls faster than the cutting edge. Geometric, basic, 1 idea.
TATE was for me the firs organic brand. Look again, think again. How art makes you see things in a different way, constantly. How Wolff Olins expressed this idea (taking analog different pictures of the typography) is quite remarkable.
Identity can be very loose, dreamy, quite poetic. It hasn’t to be fixed, set in stone, orthodox. TATE, over 10 years ago was building TATE Modern. It didn’t have a name at that time jet. But a new brand was needed to unify all the different parts of TATE, because they where already three other galleries.
by doing many workshops with the client, all together, trying to fin what is that existing there in terms of common point of view, as the client had different points of view, one for each person. They tried to find a platform that everyone agreed in.
TATE was seen as slightly academic and for the few, and stuffy, even though it had a great reputation.
The essence of the brand was “Look again, think again,“both an invitation and a challenge to visitors, which Wolff Olins articulated but came from the client. That became the essence of the brand.
There was an opportunity to create something that would help TATE have a point of view in the world. They need to democratize art, to create something that could help TATE to be less seen as a gallery where people go and see art and much more of a place for experience where people would go and do things. And that philosophy would run through the different galleries. The way Wolff Olins accomplish this was
This message is a constant invitation for the people to look at art in different ways and to think in how art makes them see things differently constantly. A sort of constant challenge. How translate this abstract concept visually?
“Look again, think again.� How translate this abstract concept visually? Wolff Olins created installations in a room with TATE logos, and everyday was a different TATE, because the idea was to create a fluid identity. They photographed and filmed this installations, and those frames became the final identity. The identity was not made into the computer, was made photographically, into film. They really express this idea of always being themselves, always changing because we all perceive art in different ways. It is a very open identity, very flexible, very fluid. And very relevant to the digital times, because is not obviously just thinking on print. The identity covered different dimensions/applications working with the architecture to combine them. But in a very respectful
way, not giving too much importance or presence to the signage. Is quite discrete. TATE became really accessible without loosing its integrity. It became a desirable brand but still has great authority of art with its curators. There is coherence between the identity and what it says and the way they do things because it comes from there as it was for form a collaboration. And people do participate with their installations every day in different ways. Everyday is different. And graphic design has to communicate this idea articulating what thy are all about. Sometimes Wolff Olins design exhibitions to show how to keep the identity and idea fresh, to show how many things you can do with that typography. And be really free.
Ten years later... Keeping it fresh and relevant as things change. Ten years later Wolff Olins is reshaping the brand, doing workshops again with TATE members to find new needs, challenges and solutions. The redesign was needed because the landscape of the artists and the core of the institution has changed. The online part of TATE will be more active than any other galleries as people want to participate more. It affects the art and the way is curated. They are looking one step further in this participation.
Graphically TATE is more fluid now and also made of dots. In this way it can mix better with other elements as it can be on the background. In the front is the name of the gallery, as people got confused with the different TATE galleries. Now you can use any color you like, as any artist uses a different color and pallet and it should not impose just one.
Wolff Olins designed a range of logos that move in and out of focus, suggesting the dynamic nature of TATE - always changing but always recognizable. And shaped TATE’s visual style, influencing its posters, website, publications and shops.
The TATE logo has been voted one of the best logos of all time by UK design bible, Creative Review. The logo entered Creative Review’s chart at number six above Apple & the Rolling Stones. The Woolmark logo was the overall winner, with Deutsche Bank and British Rail at two and three respectively. This identity helps TATE to take a place in the world, not just the art world, which it has to take its place there, but take its place into the real world, welcoming people every day.
COMPELLING Identity? 1 Distinctive: Appropriate: Robust: Enduring:
Appropriate: Legible: Consistent: Flexible: Memorable: Enduring:
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A COMPELLING IDENTITY
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