Brooklyn Museum Gets Cool New Look For 200th Anniversary

BROOKLYN, NY—To celebrate its 200th anniversary, the Brooklyn Museum is reinventing itself with a new brand identity, complete with a new logo, new brand colors and more.

The new logo, which was designed by Brooklyn company Other Means, is a nod to the museum's past as an arts and education institution, and an emblem of its present and future as a cultural hub and pioneer in the arts.

To incorporate the long history of the institution, the new logo takes its design cues from the stately neoclassical limestone building itself.

The logo is now a modern sans serif typeface with two dots flanking the name, just like the dots that bookend the names of the ancient philosophers, playwrights and poets on the museum's facade.

“The ways that audiences are engaging with museums are expanding, and we needed a new brand that meets the demands of the day, honors our rich history, and brings a whole lot of energy," Brooklyn Museum Director Anne Pasternak said. "And there’s no better time to launch it than our 200th anniversary!”

The new color palette includes a range of museum-limestone grays and more brightly saturated colors that speak to Brooklyn's energy and show the multiplicity of ideas and identities. The kaleidoscopic colors are also meant to represent the large, varied roles the museum plays in the community: art museum, educational center, forum for ideas, weekend hotspot and more.

The rebrand welcomes a new era for the Brooklyn institution with fresh signage, a digital campaign, a redesigned website, and a range of new merchandise, all set to debut this fall.