Two key decisions guided the creative work. Firstly, on our recommendation, the ‘common use’ name – The Met – was adopted, to be more immediate and welcoming to people around the world.

Secondly, The Met’s super power — ‘making connections’ — directly inspired the logo design and the wider identity: bringing to life the Museum’s ability to connect ideas, stories, and people across 5,000 years of art, from every corner of the world.

For too long, the Museum had been over-relying on a single symbol, and lacked a robust system to express itself. Greater clarity and consistency across the experience was also a pressing need — in particular, because the Museum was extending further digitally and across three physical locations in 2016 when it opened The Met Breuer. The system we created offers flexibility across multiple touch-points, communications and places, while adding up to an iconic whole.

The new logo connects both serif and sans letter forms to reference The Met’s unique ability to embrace both classical and modern art and ideas as part of a united whole.

The typographic approach uses a serif font alongside a sans font, allowing communications to range from formal to friendly. We chose red as the primary brand color for its timeless, cross-cultural symbolism of passion and vitality. A system of ornaments was also developed — taking inspiration from The Met’s buildings and collections — to be used as patterns or line-work, or to highlight important text.

The system was built to celebrate both the authority and the openness of The Met. For example, the photography and illustration styles depart from formal, static composition to emphasize the everyday role the Museum plays in people’s lives: capturing art, architecture, the visitor experience and behind-the-scenes activities in an honest and dynamic way.

Internal engagement

We developed an interactive, responsive brand site for internal use: on day of launch, it collected the most visits of any page on their intranet; and 5,200 unique page visits in first 10 days.

Awareness

Increased volume of searches for the Museum’s name and related Google searches (over 3.25 million impressions)

Digital engagement

Our work informed an overhaul of the website and app, which led to:

+20% year on year increase in website homepage views for March

92,000 updates for rebranded version of the app

132k views of The Met Breuer web page in March

Social sharing

4.5k photos/videos tagged on Instagram with #metbreuer

Attendance

Beat estimates by 16% to receive 14,003 visitors to The Met Breuer during the opening weekend

Press coverage

The New York Times, Fast Company, Wired, Forbes, Design Observer, Creative Review, Wallpaper, Brand New, Gothamist, Art News, Dezeen, The Independent and many more.

Research showed the Museum’s great depth and breadth is both an asset and a challenge. Many people love The Met because it makes art come alive: connecting us across time and culture, offering different activities everyday. However, many others find the experience overwhelming and hard to navigate.

We agreed, therefore, that the heart of The Met experience is bringing art alive. But, to achieve its goals, the Museum also had to commit to bringing art to more people: breaking down barriers (physical and mental) to entry, and exploring new ways to experience The Met inside and outside its walls.

The visual identity is often people’s first interaction with the brand so it had to feel open while retaining gravitas. Our work extended from big gestures — including recommendations on connecting spaces between galleries — to crucial details, like the maps that welcome visitors with a simple ‘hello’ in their language.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a New York icon and major global tourist attraction. Yet, the Museum recognized that the status quo would not remain.

The arts increasingly risk being seen as a non-essential luxury as global crises make the world feel more precarious. And audience behavior is changing: people are more distracted, with an abundance of competition for their attention, and their expectations for participation and dialogue are greater than ever.

We were asked to define a brand and experience that would help The Met pro-actively expand their reach and relevance for people everywhere, and drive their ambition to be the most dynamic and inspiring art museum in the world.

We collaborated with decision-makers across The Met to create a platform of shared goals and an identity that set the stage for a new era for the Museum: One Met. Iconic Met. Open Met.