Crawford Art Gallery
Awareness Campaign, Rebranding
BRIEF
The Crawford is Cork’s best known and oldest art gallery. It is popular with students, tourists, and an older, art-savvy crowd. However, it has traditionally appealed less to 25 to 40-year-olds who can perceive it as slightly stuffy. The gallery would like to rectify this through a dedicated campaign.
GOAL
The objective of the campaign is to build awareness of Crawford Art Gallery and change the perception of it as a place for the elite few to one that welcomes everyone and gives art a place in everyday life. Campaign keywords are fresh, inclusive, accessible.
CONCEPT
The “two paths, one destination” campaign leverages music as a point of access for non art fans to appreciate visual arts. It is scheduled to coincide with Cork’s annual music midsummer festival to appeal to this new demographic.
Subtle graphic elements such as gradients and spheres can be used to promote recognisability across branding assets while transitioning to a new look and feel.
The design solution incorporated rich gradients and a swirling movement for a modern, welcoming aesthetic inspired by the vibrancy of music festival design.
For the logo, I chose a circular shape to promote a sense of simplicity, community and connection. My rationale for the colour palette was to balance the traditional and the modern and I chose a gradient to symbolise transition and dynamism. Purple stands for this national cultural institution’s rich history. The purple softens into pink, which represents approachability.
Finally, the gradient transitions to green, which introduces the idea of growth and harmony. These elements, together, tell the story of an institution that is organically evolving with the times, taking art as a phenomenon seen as reserved for the elite to make it accessible to the many through music and a more modern visual identity.
