Fine Arts

Emory Carlos Museum

Branding• Signage Design• Museum Label Design• Print Collateral• Banner Design

How do you capture an idea as big as compassion in a single image?

The Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University brought us on to create the brand for its exhibit, Compassion: What Moves You? Part of Emory’s university-wide Year of Compassion, the show invites visitors to explore what moves us, what connects us, and what happens when we fail to help one another. Using photos of the artwork in the show, we developed three directions for the exhibit’s look. Our challenge was to find one image that spoke to both compassion and the art itself. The final brand carried through postcards, signage, exterior banners, and wall decals for the show.

Most exhibits stay in one gallery, but Anamnesis moves through the whole museum.

The Carlos Museum commissioned us to create the brand for this exhibition of works by Atlanta artist Sergio Suárez. Anamnesis is a Greek word for remembering, and the show brings Suárez’s prints, sculpture, and ceramics into conversation with the museum’s own collections. Using a few pieces of his art and a brand example the artist had created, we developed the show’s full visual identity. Our challenge was to make the entire exhibition bilingual, ensuring every piece read clearly in both languages. The final brand appeared on banners, art labels, wall decals, and a show booklet.

A museum’s banners are often the first thing visitors see, so they need to say a lot at a glance.

When Emory University rolled out new brand standards, the Carlos Museum brought us on to redesign the exterior banners for its permanent collection. Working from photos of objects in each gallery and Emory’s new guidelines, we created a set of banners that represents the collection and fits the university brand. Our challenge was to make the art pop while staying within strict font and color rules. The result is a set of exterior banners that feels true to both the museum and Emory.