Archinect - News

Pentagram utilizes architectural forms to create a new visual identity for the Memphis Art Museum

2023-11-02T20:04:00-04:00

Pentagram has released materials showcasing their new visual identity project undertaken for their clients at the Memphis Art Museum (formerly the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art) ahead of the completion of its Herzog & de Meuron-led expansion in 2025.

The lettering and logo included in the kit derive from cross-section drawings of the new 122,000-square-foot building, which will grace the center of downtown at Overton Park. The expanded museum also forms the anchor of a wider riverfront development master plan that will reorient the commercial/cultural district. Costs for the expansion have been reported around $180 million.

“We have worked with the greater Memphis community for years on our vision for a new museum, and as it begins to take shape, we are proud to see that it will be a place for community and connectivity unlike anything in our city’s history,” the museum's board president, Carl Person, told the Memphis Flyer newspaper recently about the institutional pivot. “It is tru...

Harvard GSD details its new visual identity

2023-08-25T13:01:00-04:00

The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) this week announced a new visual identity created in order to help galvanize its institutional and pedagogical aims, claiming it needed an "updated language of forms to communicate the school’s mission and values."

The rebranding effort comes in response to Dean Sarah M. Whiting’s previous call for the GSD community to establish a dialogue with the general public in a way that can embody the "critical design thinking" at the core of its educational program.

The new logo offers a further demarcation from the standard university crest-based designs used by Harvard’s other schools and undergraduate residential houses, embracing the 'Flying H' design invented by alum Nigel Smith into the GSD's graphics system to mark the turn of the 21st century.

Image courtesy Harvard GSD

The expressionistic form of John Andrews’ distinct Gund Hall building is a further source of inspiration for the new GSD Gothic typeface, which was the brainchild of the sc...

Pentagram designs new visual identity for Tulane School of Architecture

2022-02-24T09:00:00-05:00

This post is brought to you by Tulane School of Architecture

Creating a strong and impactful visual identity for brands and companies is essential. This follows suit for institutions and academic departments. Tulane School of Architecture recently announced its partnership with renowned design firm Pentagram and unveiled its reimagined visual identity. Together, Tulane and Pentagram created a "new suite of branded materials and an entirely redesigned website."

According to Tulane, the school is entering a "new era of educating future professionals in the built environment on the importance of navigating humans' relationship with water and supporting local communities in a wide range of design challenges." With this in mind, the visual rebranding also aimed to cultivate discourse in how the school addresses "pressing environmental, social, and economic challenges."

Video courtesy of Tulane University School of Architecture.

The Pentagram design team brought an impressive level of e...

A giant MacBook tops out the Foster + Partners-designed Chicago Apple Store

2017-06-27T12:41:00-04:00

Although the original Foster + Partners renderings for the new Chicago Apple Store did not include a logo on its gray, rectilinear convex carbon-fiber roof, construction workers briefly unrolled the trademark white Apple across what now can only be viewed as a giant MacBook (no word yet on whether the store is meant to be in perpetual sleep mode). Here's a video of the unfurling:

Logo design chosen for 2020 Tokyo Olympics

2016-04-25T14:15:00-04:00

Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizers on Monday chose logo A — a stark indigo-and-white checkered circle — as the games’ replacement emblem after the original design was scrapped last year amid claims of plagiarism. The Tokyo 2020 Logo Selection Committee chose the logo from a shortlist of four following a competition open to any resident of Japan aged over 18. Almost 15,000 entries were submitted. The winning logo was designed by Asao Tokolo, a 46-year-old artist [...].

"The design comprises 45 interconnecting pieces forming a checkered pattern known as ichimatsu moyou. Use of the color indigo is intended “to express a refined elegance and sophistication that exemplifies Japan.”"

Previously: 2020 Tokyo Olympics panel launches nationwide call for new logo design

More stories about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the Archinect news:

LA 2024 plays up a sunny disposition in their logo for the Olympic bid

2016-02-17T19:13:00-05:00

'Every day people follow the sun to our city in pursuit of their dreams,' bid committee chairman Casey Wasserman said in a statement, adding: 'We're inviting the world to follow the sun to California in 2024.' The Olympic movement takes such things seriously. In the past, millions of dollars have been spent on the design of emblems and the often-ridiculed mascots.

You can read LA 2024's full press statement about the logo's unveiling here, and watch the promotional video below.

2020 Tokyo Olympics panel launches nationwide call for new logo design

2015-11-24T13:58:00-05:00

'We’re expecting at least 10,000 applications this time,' said Ryohei Miyata, head of the selection committee. Only 104 applications were accepted for the previous competition. Applicants this time only have to be 18 or older and a resident of Japan. The committee will accept an entry by a group if the leader of the group meets the age and resident criteria, meaning that people younger than 18 can still take part.

After the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee ran into accusations of plagiarism with their first logo for the Games, the committee is at it again with a second call for submissions. But this time around, they're inviting virtually all residents of Japan to submit their ideas for a new logo, regardless of design experience.

More recent news on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Archinect:

Tokyo's 2020 Olympics won't have Zaha, but it's looking like there will be "Robot Taxi"

Zaha Hadid ineligible to participate in Tokyo Stadium design-build competition

Japanese government hopes to cap Olympic stadium costs at US$1.28 billion

University of California reveals new logo, public collectively barfs

2012-12-10T18:32:00-05:00

Creators of an online petition opposed to the change say the new logo "loses the prestige and elegance of the current seal." They want the 10-campus system to use the traditional circular medallion that shows an open book, the motto “Let There Be Light” and the 1868 date of UC’s founding. Or find a dignified alternative. The petition had more than 39,000 supporters so far.

UC's brand guidelines can be found here.

Gary Anderson, architect and designer of the recycling logo

2012-05-18T14:31:00-04:00

When I finished my studies, I decided I wanted to go into urban planning and I moved to LA. It seems funny, but I really played down the fact that I’d won this competition. I was afraid it would make me look like a graphics guy, rather than an urban designer. I didn’t even mention it on my résumé. Also, the symbol itself languished for a while. I remember seeing it once on a bank statement, but then it disappeared.

The Financial Times has an interesting story about Gary Anderson, an engineer/architect/urban planner that designed the famous recycling logo in a competition in 1971.