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Portland Art Museum Launches New Brand

Visual identity reflects the Museum’s past and future

This month the Portland Art Museum will unveil a new brand including a new visual identity that will be reflected in signage, advertising, and other materials.

The Museum recently completed a strategic planning process, identifying short-term and long-term goals for the institution and reaffirming the core values and mission of the Museum.

“Through this process we have reaffirmed the core values and mission of the Museum with a focus on what we want to do and how we want to do it,” said Ferriso. “With this fundamental understanding, we were ready to create a brand that reflects our past successes and our future goals.”

The Museum engaged Ziba Design, a renowned Portland-based firm that is a global leader in branding and product development. Through extensive interviews with Museum staff and trustees, residents, visitors, and members, Ziba learned that a number of people were not aware of the broad range of quality programs offered by the Museum.

Based on this research, a brand strategy was developed to reflect the essence of the institution. Ziba’s design team created a visual identity that clearly communicates the many facets of the Museum. The iconic anchor for the new mark is a large, bold, “P” that serves as a portal—a window—into the Museum. In its application, the collections, exhibitions, and programs will be framed.

“The Museum’s new brand is authentic and bold, paying homage to our past while also increasing the visibility of this vital 119-year-old institution, connecting it in an emphatic way with our 21st-century audiences,” said Ferriso.

Based on the new brand, the Museum’s communications will have a new look and voice, including changes to the members magazine, collateral materials, signage, and more.

The goal of the new brand is to bring together the Museum’s past with its future, connecting the institution with current and new audiences.

About the Portland Art Museum
The seventh oldest museum in the United States and the oldest on the West Coast, the Portland Art Museum is internationally recognized for its permanent collection and ambitious special exhibitions drawn from the Museum’s holdings and the world’s finest public and private collections. The Museum’s collection of 42,000 objects, displayed in 112,000 square feet of galleries, reflects the history of art from ancient times to today. The collection is distinguished for its holdings of arts of the native peoples of North America, English silver, and the graphic arts. An active collecting institution dedicated to preserving great art for the enrichment of future generations, the Museum devotes 90 percent of its galleries to its permanent collection. The Museum’s campus of landmark buildings, a cornerstone of Portland’s cultural district, includes the Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art, the Gilkey Center for Graphic Arts, the Schnitzer Center for Northwest Art, the Northwest Film Center, and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Center for Native American Art. With a membership of more than 22,000 households and serving more than 350,000 visitors annually, the Museum is a premier venue for education in the visual arts. For information on exhibitions and programs, call 503-226-2811 or visit portlandartmuseum.org

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