Modern Art Oxford Brand Identity

Founded in 1965, the gallery presents modern and contemporary visual art. They hold an inspiring archive of the gallery’s impressive printed matter from the past 40 years. Our aim was to bring the gallery’s energy and legacy to their identity in a bold and playful way, which could be flexible in time and over multiple applications. First keeping the typeface Interstate, then shifting it to a more compact left aligned setting in black only. We combined this with oversized, abstracted yellow letters, which are used on materials from stationery to café and shop signage, bags, and other merchandise.

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Modern Art Oxford Signage

The versatile identity system of oversized and abstracted yellow letters, which we created for Modern Art Oxford's stationery, also functions as signage and labelling throughout the venue's galleries, cafe and shop. Together with document templates and brand guidelines, it allows employees to create exhibition materials both quickly and cost-effectively, forming a visually unifying set of interventions within the space. Elsewhere, an integrated approach to exhibition signage and information reinforces the graphic identity of Modern Art Oxford.

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Manfred Pernice / Simon & Tom Bloor

Printed Material

Our brand for Modern Art Oxford dictates that each poster and invitation can be quite open with its design, with no strict guidelines. Here are examples from the Manfred Pernice and Tom & Simon Bloor exhibitions held in October 2010. Manfred Pernice’s design features a Brutalist typeface redrawn from a design for a commemorative stone at Imperial College London, reflecting the common themes in Pernice’s work of sculpture and architectural forms. Tom & Simon Bloor’s design was drawn up by the artists, re-imagining a poster from a previous exhibition at the gallery, and portraying the handmade element of their work. We enlarged this reproduction to exaggerate the pen lines further.

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Modern Art Oxford What's On Guide

We also designed a new programme for the gallery – instead of to the ‘usual’ gallery form and conventions, this works more like a magazine, working to a larger format on thin paper and with bold typography.

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Arrivals

Publication

Arrivals has been an ongoing project – a series of ten exhibitions over the past two years at Modern Art Oxford and Turner Contemporary. The series of exhibitions introduced the work of artists from the expanded European Union in 2005, with two different artists from each country exhibited in the two different locations. We produced the design for each exhibition, where each invite and leaflet borrowed the feeling and language of plane tickets, travel documents etc. A publication contained the work of all the artists involved, essays and the context in which they work, as well as documentation of the research and development the curators did along the way.

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Daniel Buren Intervention II, Works in Situ

Publication

Daniel Buren designs his work in situ on location, and so only completed his work one day before the opening of his exhibition at Modern Art Oxford. The gallery gave us the challenge to create a publication which would be ready for the opening night, and include photography of this latest work. We worked with Daniel on the idea of a folder with inserts, the design of which was born out of the constraints of his infamous 8.7cm stripe and the required number of sections and dividers – a brightly coloured mathematical challenge of simplicity and purity. The contents also contributed to an archive of all of his projects in the UK to date.

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Maria Pask Déjà Vu

Printed Material and Publication

Déjà Vu by Maria Pask is a film with a strong social and collaborative element which was inspired by Rose Hill Roundabout, a community newsletter produced from the 1950s to the 1960s in a housing estate on the outskirts of Oxford. On the occasion of Pask’s opening, we launched a special commemorative issue of Roundabout, as well as the poster design for the exhibition.

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