Work: Case Study The Gibbes Museum
The Gibbes team approached us a year before they were set to reopen the museum’s doors to the community after a complete renovation of its structure, galleries, and programming. The new Gibbes would pay homage to its original mission and purpose, while providing a dynamic new setting where all visitors can celebrate artistic expression and its role in our lives and communities.
We were thrilled at the chance to evolve the brand and craft all-new marketing materials.
Our goal was clear: develop a world-class branding platform for a world-class museum. To get there, we all agreed to push beyond descriptive and functional concepts and explore the true impact the Gibbes and art have on our lives. On a parallel path the Gibbes board was retooling the museum’s mission statement and the two efforts informed each other.
In the end, we focused on the role that art played in Charleston’s complex history, and the even larger role it plays across society. And with our project parter Gil Shuler leading the identity design, used the museum’s iconic glass Rotunda Dome as inspiration for the new mark.
With a new brand premise and identity platform locked in, we turned our attention to all aspects of the museum experience to bring the new concept to life – the core branding, exhibit design, signage and wayfinding, cafe and museum store artwork, ongoing events and materials, the base website, an in-museum app for their miniatures collection, lobby displays and video, artist films and more.
The new branding and materials helped the Gibbes relaunch a completely reimagined museum, spark the energy needed to drive strategic initiatives, membership, visitation and donations, and support the larger community during a pandemic and a national reckoning around racial inequalities in the U.S. Through it all, the brand has stayed true to its mission: to enrich lives through art.
