National Museum of Mexican Art Rebrand

A Vibrant, Inclusive Brand Approach that reflects on the past while looking to the Future.

The Objective

The National Museum of Mexican Art, located in Chicago, Illinois, is the national hub for Mexican arts and culture. They are committed to accessibility, education, and social justice from the Mexican community's point of view and voice. A new cohesive and bold brand will bring the museum out of the past and depict how Mexican culture is very much alive today.

The Solution

This brand refresh embodies the vibrancy of Mexican culture and brings NMMA’s mission to “foster a world where all are included” to the forefront of the brand and ad strategy, while still maintaining a connection to Mexican and MezoAmerican history.

Brand Overview
Vibrant and Dynamic

NMMA Icon: Derived from Quicha (Cocijo Type, Latin American Type Foundry), the typeface references megalithic walls constructed by the indigenous peoples throughout Central and South America. This approach acknowledges the MesoAmerican influence in the brand’s previous logo and realigns it with the vibrancy and boldness of Mexican Art. It’s textured edges also connect to papel picado, traditional Mexican decorative craft.

Logo Type: Urbana, designed by Columbian typographer Cesar Puertas.

Typography: Alverata, the header typeface, is a traditional Latin American Style serif with medium contrast that adds visual complexity to the brand. Mr Eaves is a modern and readable choice for body copy.

Colors: The double complementary color palette captures the liveliness and maturity of Mexican Art, with a wide range of color that feels balanced and complete.

Brand Pattern: MesoAmerican-inspired pattern complements the block structure of the logo.

Mondorlas: Oval outlines with rays extending from them reference the Lady of Guadalupe, an icon of Mexican culture. The 3 versions are used for different purposes, defined in the style guide.

Advertising
Engaging and Art-Focused

Street Advertising: NMMA’s advertising maintains the brand through the strategic use of the brand color palette and vibrant imagery uses of the overarching NMMA’s style guide. Here you can see how each NMMA exhibition uses one brand color across all of it’s advertising and wayfinding to create cohesion and differentiation for NMMA’s many events.

Social Media: Social media advertising is consistent with print and street ads. There are multiple templates dedicated to each type of post and each post is limited to one brand color to spread out and balance them across the feed. The story campaign, I Spy encourages followers to enjoy Mexican Art by recognizing the complexity of Mexican Art by closely examining individual artworks to find specific objects.