Women’s History Museum Looks To Future

Pentagram Identity Centers On A Folded ‘W’

The National Women’s History Museum is dedicated to telling the stories of women who transformed the US and offering a more complete view of US history, through a growing online presence as it looks forward to a future physical museum. With the future in mind, Paula Scher and her team at Pentagram have designed a dynamic new visual identity for the Museum that can evolve with the institution. The project team included Kirstin Huber and Emily Atwood.

 

The identity centers on a folded ‘W’ symbol that evokes a moveable placard or display system, an apt metaphor as the virtual museum moves toward hosting exhibitions in physical spaces in 2022. The new look coincides with the institution’s 25th anniversary. ‘The goal for the new identity was to make a strong statement that we are a contemporary history museum – that we are here to record and interpret and create a platform for history in the making, to draw connections from the past and give inspiration for the future,” says NWHM President and CEO Holly Hotchner. “The new identity succeeds through the boldness of our ‘W,’which alludes to our community and can be interpreted in different ways.”

 

The logotype is set in Action Condensed Bold, a straight-sided condensed sans with quirky shapes. The brand colors include a purple inspired by the US suffrage movement, along with a secondary palette of bright, modern colors. As part of the new identity, the Pentagram team also redesigned the institution’s website as well as a quarterly magazine.