Brand Identity for the Philadelphia Museum of Art
A museum rebrand that looks like a football team—and that’s intentional.
Gretel developed a comprehensive rebrand for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, revitalizing its iconic griffin logo and creating a custom typeface that reflects the city’s industrial and artistic heritage. The new identity bridges the museum’s storied past with a forward-looking vision, infusing the texture and character of Philadelphia into every touchpoint—from signage and merchandise to digital platforms.
Set in Fairmount Serif, Hess Neobold
Insights- Creator angle: Gretel’s update to the Philadelphia Museum of Art leans into a griffin emblem plus a bold custom typeface—so strong it can read like a football-team identity—while still serving a major cultural institution.
- The rebrand revitalizes the museum’s iconic griffin logo rather than replacing it, using heritage as an asset and modernizing the mark to feel more assertive and contemporary across applications.
- A custom typeface anchors the system, designed to reflect Philadelphia’s industrial + artistic heritage; the typography is described as modular and textural, bringing city character into the core of the identity.
- The identity is built to scale across touchpoints—signage, merchandise, and digital platforms—so the same refined-yet-expressive language holds up from wayfinding to small merch details.
- Overall strategy: bridge the museum’s storied past with a forward-looking vision by embedding “Philadelphia-ness” (urban texture, grit, craft) into the visuals, not just the messaging.
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