AGO Unveils Bold New Logo
(Toronto, May 15, 2008) The Art Gallery of Ontario has unveiled a distinctive new logo that will represent the Gallery well beyond its Fall 2008 opening.
Centered inside a black square, the Gallery’s new logo uses multiple typefaces and a wide spectrum of colours to create a unique effect reminiscent of light refracting through glass. By combining a strong iconic form - the black square - with a shimmering juxtaposition of overlapping coloured typefaces, the logo captures both the stability of the century-old institution and the forward-looking energy of the new Gallery. A signature wordmark has also been created, which incorporates the logo and the Gallery’s name in English and French.
“This fresh new logo acknowledges and respects our heritage, while clearly reflecting the incredible changes taking place and the dynamic institution that the new AGO will be,” says Arlene Madell, the AGO’s Director of Marketing and Visitor Services.
Created by Bruce Mau Design in consultation with the AGO, the new logo is the result of extensive brand research on the public’s perception of the new Gallery. The research shows that the public has a positive, long-standing relationship with the AGO and are looking forward to the Gallery’s spectacular Frank Gehry-designed building and innovative ideas.
Bruce Mau Design has collaborated with Frank Gehry on a number of projects, most notably the signage and typographic identity for the architect’s Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
“The Art Gallery of Ontario is relaunching with a renewed mission to bring art and people together to experience spaces that are dynamic yet timeless, popular yet iconic. The new logo is similarly imbued with fluid motion and spontaneity, counterbalanced by stability and legibility,” says Bruce Mau. “We are extraordinarily grateful to our collaborators at the AGO, with whom Bruce Mau Design has enjoyed a twenty-year creative relationship, for the opportunity to contribute to the transformation of this locally and internationally critical institution.”
About the Art Gallery of Ontario
With a permanent collection of more than 68,000 works of art, the Art Gallery of Ontario is among the most distinguished art museums in North America. The Gallery began an extraordinary chapter in its 108-year history when it launched Transformation AGO in 2002. Multi-faceted in scope, Transformation AGO involves the unprecedented growth of the permanent collection, an innovative architectural expansion by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, and the strengthening of the museum’s endowment resources. As the imaginative centre of the city, the transformed AGO will dramatically enrich our visitors’ experiences and provide greater access to the full vibrancy of the art museum.
The Art Gallery of Ontario is funded in part by the Ontario Ministry of Culture. Additional operating support is received from the Volunteers of the AGO, the City of Toronto, the Department of Canadian Heritage, and the Canada Council for the Arts.
About Bruce Mau Design
Bruce Mau Design is a business and cultural design studio of experts from diverse practices in communications, science, philosophy, psychology, economics, architecture, business, marketing and the arts who are ALL designers, visionaries, futurists, activists and global citizens. Through distributed problem solving and team-based multi-disciplinary practices, Bruce Mau Design collaborates with clients by using design principles and methodologies in an optimistic, integrative and imaginative approach to confront complex problems and create sustainable, commercially viable solutions with outstanding social, cultural and environmental and economic value.
Bruce Mau Design is part of the MDC Partners network, one of the world’s foremost multi-disciplinary communications firms.
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The Art Gallery of Ontario is funded by the Ontario Ministry of Culture. Additional operating support is received from the Volunteers of the AGO, the City of Toronto,the Department of Canadian Heritage and The Canada Council for the Arts.
