Philadelphia Art Museum
Brand Identity
Designed at Gretel with Dylan Mulvaney, Andy Keating, Suyoung Yang, Jacob Hwan Lee, Magnus Atom and more
Custom typeface (Fairmount serif) by Ryan Bugden
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is transforming to be more collaborative, engaging, expansive and future-focused. With a new strategic vision to “come down the steps and throw the doors wide open,” the aim is to invite more Philadelphians in, more often. And to extend that reach outward to local neighborhoods, national and global audiences alike.
The new brand is both a marker of change and a renewed commitment. It’s anchored in the museum’s heritage with custom-crafted typography and a revitalized griffin, but looks decidedly forward. It centers the city of Philadelphia by embracing its independent spirit. Visionary and welcoming, provocative and playful, it’s designed to dissolve the walls of the museum, invite all visitors in, and emanate its wide-ranging programming out into the world.
Along the way, the museum’s name shifted to what much of the city had already called it: Philadelphia Art Museum. It’s simple, casual and approachable. In short: PhAM.
Working with the team, I helped explore logo design, iconography, and applications across signage, merchandise, out-of-home and digital.
The primary logo builds on seven decades of brand equity. It features the newly revived griffin—an iconic and mythical protector of the arts. Several different griffins grace the cornices of the museum, and merchandise bearing ‘Griffy’ were consistently among the museum’s most popular pieces.
The badge was redrawn based on the original 1938 version. Historical details discovered in the museum’s archives and architecture were infused, alongside cues from our custom typography. Through a meticulous process of exploration and refinement, we modernized the badge while preserving its heritage—ensuring it reads clearly from large-scale signage on building facades down to a thumbnail-sized social icon.
The logo system contains a primary badge and a secondary wordmark. These allow us to adapt to different uses and formats while maintaining consistency.