Art Gallery of New South Wales
Identity guideline
Visual identity design principles
Logo clear space and minimum size
Introduction
The Art Gallery of New South Wales acknowledges the traditional custodians of the Country on which it is located, the Gadigal of the Eora nation, and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters and culture.
From its magnificent site in Sydney, the Art Gallery of New South Wales is one of Australia’s flagship art museums and the state’s leading visual arts institution. The Gallery is dedicated to serving the widest possible audience as a centre of excellence for the collection, preservation, documentation, interpretation and display of Australian and international art, and a forum of scholarship, art education and the exchange of ideas.
The Gallery’s new visual identity celebrates 150 years since its founding in 1871. Its design draws inspiration from the Gallery’s history and the ambitions of the Sydney Modern Project.
With references to the Gallery’s collection and architecture, the visual identity includes a newly designed logo as well as the creation of a custom typeface.
Visual identity design principles
Design principles are guardrails for the implementation of the Gallery’s identity system, developed to create consistency and distinction.
Respectful
Design that respects the intelligence of our audiences, champions our content, and considers all communities.
Curious
Design that is responsive and progressive, driven by invention and playful optimism.
Confident
Design that is singular, distinctive and uncompromising.
Intelligent
Design that is insightful, inventive and rigorously detailed.
Logo
The logo is central to a flexible and accessible identity system that reflects this dynamic institution and its increasingly broad range of audiences.
Constructed on a 24 x 24-unit grid and composed of three open-framed layers, our logo references the Gallery’s past, present and future histories.
Logo colours
Use the black logo for mono applications on lighter backgrounds.
Use the blue logo for colour applications on lighter backgrounds.
Use the white logo for mono and colour applications on darker backgrounds and images.
Logo
Clear space and minimum size
Clear space
To protect the integrity of the logo always maintain the minimum clear space shown here. The clear space is based on the horizontal width between the logo lines. No graphic elements should ever appear within this space.
Minimum height
The logo should never be used at a size smaller than 30px / 10mm
Logo
Incorrect usage
To avoid an inconsistent and unprofessional brand expression, it’s important to apply the logo correctly, and to resist adding any stylistic touches that conflict with these guidelines.
All logo usage requires review and approval from the Gallery. Please consult either the design team or the appropriate Gallery contact prior to production.
Sub-brand system
The sub-brand system applies a singular approach by utilising strict type and colour palettes, reinforcing the masterbrand across all Gallery collateral.
Primary colours
‘Whiteley Blue’ takes inspiration from Brett Whiteley’s paintings of Sydney Harbour, an intrinsic part of Gadigal Country and the wider Eora Nation, whose borders are defined by water.
Whiteley Blue
Black
150 Gold
150 Gold is a colour selected specifically for applications associated with the 150-year anniversary. Metallic ink matching Pantone 871 should be used wherever possible to provide the identity with an appropriate level of distinction.
150 Gold
Typography
Our new typeface, Preston, has been designed for the Gallery by Vincent Chan from Matter of Sorts to create a distinctive and consistent visual identity. It draws on research into the history of Australian graphic design from the 1960s to 1990s by Chan and Mucho creative director Dominic Hofstede. Preston channels a particular attitude, affectionately termed ‘mongrel modernism’ – a kind of Antipodean-digested version of European ideals — by specifically referencing the prevalence of Adrian Frutiger’s iconic Univers typeface in Australian graphic design from the 1960s–70s’.
Preston has been designed with an extended character set including support for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages.
The typeface is named in honour of Sydney modernist, artist and designer Margaret Preston for her significant contribution to Australian art and art history, and for her special significance to the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Social media avatars
The new brand is celebrated across all channels, with sub-brands identified through their unique background colour and reinforced by their page title, account handle or description.
Wayfinding pictograms
The Gallery has developed a range of custom wayfinding pictograms that were designed to complement the visual identity and help reinforce a brand presence at every touch point.
Motion
An extensive motion package is available when creating video content and consists of openers, lower thirds, subtitling, logo bugs, full framers and transitions. To get access to the motion package, please contact the Gallery’s design team.
Application examples
Contact
Creative Studio
Ujin Lee
Head of Creative
Cara Hickman
Production and Studio Manager
On Gadigal Country
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery Road, The Domain
Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
artgallery.nsw.gov.au