Visual Identity for The National Museum for Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo Norway
Role: Strategic advisor and lead designer.
Agency: Metric Design
The National Museum for Art, Architecture, and Design is home to Norway's most comprehensive collection of historical and contemporary art, design, handicrafts, and architecture. The museum – Scandinavias largest – sits by the harbor, within the inner reaches of the Oslo fjord.
The museum building, designed by architects Kleihues + Schuwerk, spans a total area of 54,000 square meters, with 13,000 square meters allocated to 92 exhibition halls. Within these halls, the museum's permanent exhibition showcases over 5,000 works and objects spanning over 5,000 years of art, design, and architecture from diverse cultures around the globe.
In addition to the main exhibition spaces, the museum features two temporary galleries and a vast exhibition hall measuring 2700 square meters. Furthermore, the museum houses a comprehensive library and archives section, as well as study rooms and offices.
One of the primary objectives of the visual identity is to bridge the gap between art and the public, making art experiences more accessible and approachable. It was imperative for the museum to adopt an uncontroversial and functional visual identity that strikes a balance—neither overly challenging nor overly dominant, ensuring it complements rather than overshadows the art itself.
The logo symbol, a monogram derived from a detail of the wordmark. The detail symbolizes the experience of getting fully into the details and intricacies of the art - something that can only be experienced in a physical encounter with art, such as in a museum or gallery.
A typeface family named Museet was developed, comprising both serif and sans-serif variations. These fonts serve as the cornerstone of the museum's visual communication, echoing its rich typographic legacy. Drawing inspiration from the museum's history, the fonts incorporate letters and details found in artworks, printed materials, signage, and other archival sources. This is a way of bringing the history of the museum into a new era and new museum building.
The museum's brand colors are also inspired by the collection and derived from Nordic design and craftsmanship from the middle of the last century
Metric was also responsible for signage and wayfinding together with British Endpoint and developed strategy and graphic system for the more than 700 individual signs throughout the museum building - front of house and back of house.
Role: Strategic Advisor and Design Lead for the visual identity
Agency: Metric
Client: The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design
Contractor: Statsbygg
Architect: Kleihues + Schuwerk
Exhibition design: Guicciardini & Magni
Bespoke typography; Metric and Displaay
Signage and wayfinding: Metric and Endpoint
Interior design: Kaels and Cadi
Initiator: The Norwegian Ministry of Culture
Total area: 54,600 m²
Exhibition area: 13,000 m²
Completion: 2022
