Around the world, NASA represents the pinnacle of exploration.

The organisation has a 65+ year history of taking step-after-step, deeper into the unknown. Pushing the barriers of human knowledge and achievement.

However, for many people, NASA’s achievements can be more associated with the past than the future. Harking back to the Apollo program and its iconic first steps on the moon.

The brand we created for the Artemis program (the twin sister of Apollo) represents NASA’s next great step. Seeking to, again, push the barriers of human knowledge and achievement. In turn, inspiring a new generation.

No. The Artemis program is a government-funded initiative. However, you can purchase Nasa Artemis branding merchandise.

The Artemis program launched during a period of significant global economic uncertainty.

With the COVID-19 pandemic causing widespread economic disruption, the value of investment in space exploration faced new levels of public scrutiny.

‘Why spend so much money going to space, when we have urgent problems to deal with here on earth?’ was a common sentiment.

‘Why go back to the Moon?’ was a critical question that required a clear and compelling answer for a wide variety of audiences around the globe. From school children to State Senators. From superfans to sceptics.

Artemis required a brand that would bring people on board and in turn, inspire a generation. Capturing how by exploring deeper into space, the lessons we learn will benefit us all here on earth.

NASA’s Artemis program is tasked with exploring the Moon for scientific discovery, technology advancement and prepare for human missions to Mars. Collaborating with commercial and international partners to establish the first long-term presence on the Moon. NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before.

We were briefed to develop a brand strategy and identity for Artemis. A brand that could succeed in telling a highly-technical story, told over the best part of a decade, in a way people far-and-wide could connect to emotionally and in turn, be inspired by.

The project is ongoing and evolves to reflect the phases of the Artemis Program.

The budget is undisclosed.

We developed the purpose: ‘We go to the moon to learn how to live on other planets’, to define Artemis’ societal role.

Articulating how by establishing human presence for the first time on another celestial body, and by setting the stage to go onto do the same on Mars, we will learn powerful new lessons that will benefit us both in space, as well as here on earth.

And with more diverse mission teams, more of society will be able to see themselves reflected within the Artemis program.

The creative idea ‘New Dawn’ reflects that this is the next generation of space discovery. Providing a positive and powerful way to position Artemis as inspiring new beginning; for the astronauts embarking on the mission and the future of sustained human life in space.

The identity takes direct inspiration from a new dawn as seen in space. The approach, utilizes light to reveal elements of the identity, echoing that of dawn light falling across the surface of the moon as the sunrises to bring a new day.

Key elements of the visual identity are the typography and the colour palette. The typeface is a unique font cut to echo how dawn light partially illuminates. The Color is informed by the spectrum of colours that appear in the atmosphere at dawn.

Photography and motion utilize a strong light source to reveal subjects.

Together, the principles create an identity that reflets that this new venture to the moon and beyond, is a time of new discoveries, in a way that appeals to a new and younger generation.

As a governmental organization, NASA does not spend on advertising or promotion.

Despite this, following the launch of the Artemis program, its content has contributed to organically growing NASA’s account on X (formerly Twitter) to become the No.1 most-followed brand account on the platform.

With 80.2M followers on X (as of 04.04.24), NASA commands a larger following than YouTube, CNN, the NBA and even X itself.

This contributes to NASA’s total 389.5M social media followers across all agency accounts (as of 2023). This following is up nearly 9% from 357M in 2022.