Whitney Museum Rebranding Analysis

We have been asked to look into the redesign of the Whitney museum in New York and analyse what we think has worked well and how they have reached the graphical outcome.

Firstly the idea behind the rebranding came from their move from the old building to a totally new modern building designed by famed italian architect Renzo Piano. The new building uses grand shapes and extended prepositions to really stand out from the other buildings around it.

The design studio Experimental Jetset were given the task to design new identity. The large W is a very versatile design it is modelled and adapted to fit many different white spaces and forms the basis for the rest of the design identity. The typography used for the large bold text is 'Neue Haas Grotesk' reflecting very much Helvetica a very popular and adaptable typeface that has been used for all the New York subway system so reflects the city which was important to the designers. The Whitney exhibit’s rebrand is effective as it reflects the museum even though it is simplistic. The minimalism and simplicity creates a sleek design and you can transfer the logo effectively onto signage and outer design elements effectively but extending it and changing the width depending on the word. One of the inspirations was a specific piece of work by Ad Reinhardt in a comic strip from the 1940’s, a wonderful ‘typology of lines’. Additionally is the concept of a derive from one point to the next through a city, getting from A to B shown with the zig zag line. Another design concept is this idea of drawing a time line of art history with the line and showing the zig zag as being both in the future and the past at the same time and reflecting from one to the other. The new logo also reflects the modernism of the new building. The white space gives examples of the gallery’s work more impact and makes it more striking. It’s simplistic but has so much reasoning and justification through the context which ads more significance and purpose to the design. The simple logo can be incorporated into direction signage and other graphic design and it is a flexible platform for different texts.