ACMI’s visual identity evolution

Leading London-based design agency North has developed a new visual identity for ACMI, the most visited museum of screen culture in the world. 

Branding specialists, North have redesigned identities for iconic arts institutions including London’s Tate and Science Museum. ACMI’s new identity was implemented in close collaboration with the museum’s in-house design team. It embodies the museum’s $40 million AUD physical transformation, which will be revealed in early 2021. The brand refresh represents the museum’s 17-year evolution from local film centre to global powerhouse of screen culture.

A bold, elegant and confident design, the refreshed identity is launching today alongside ACMI’s new groundbreaking vision: a multiplatform museum that goes beyond the physical to bring screen culture to any device, anywhere around the world.

By its nature, screen content is always moving and evolving and so must ACMI. In keeping with this, and the museum's progression to a fully integrated multiplatform experience, North designed a new overall system to be rolled out across the museum’s physical assets and broad range of digital platforms. The bespoke new logo expresses the confidence of the renewed museum, standing alone as a central design element rather than a formality to be hidden in the bottom corner.

North built on ACMI’s existing brand equity by refreshing and strengthening the museum’s well established monochromatic identity system, allowing the colourful programming imagery to come to the fore. With digital and online experiences central to the new ACMI, this gave the in-house team broad scope to explore animations and video content that come to life across web and social media applications. With moving image at the core of the identity development the logo can be animated in a multitude of ways, providing a playful expression of ACMI’s curatorial role in framing the screen culture that is part of daily life.

Beyond the logo, the project encompassed external signage, retail merchandise, staff uniforms, physical and digital collateral, campaign assets, as well as informing the design of the new website by Liquorice and internal wayfinding by Buro North.

The museum’s typeface suite has been transformed with the addition of Px Grotesk, in order to give the museum a distinctive voice across all touchpoints. All upcoming marketing campaigns, membership communications, food and beverage and retail offerings will carry the new identity, with North providing ongoing consultation and guidance to give the ACMI design and video teams the tools to cohesively rebrand the new face of ACMI. 

ACMI’s brand refresh included a strategic positioning review by The Contenders and new quantitative audience research by Colmar Brunton and Morris Hargreaves McIntyre.

The work will roll out from today, 13 October 2020, culminating with the opening of the new ACMI in 2021.

QUOTES

“It has been wonderful working with North. As ACMI underwent our $40 million AUD Renewal project, North, together with ACMI’s in-house design team, have seamlessly evolved the look and feel of ACMI with a comprehensive reimagining of our visual identity that reflects the energy, tone and ambition of our transforming, progressive museum."

– Katrina Sedgwick OAM, Director & CEO of ACMI

“Collaboration is the route to success. ACMI as an organisation epitomises positive co-creation. It has been an honour to work with ACMI, along with BKK, Büro North and Liquorice on the new identity to align with the reimagining of this iconic museum. We look forward to continuing the relationship.”

– Jeremy Coysten, Partner, North