TheNationalGallery

Design Standards Manual

for the effective implementation of gallery graphics

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The National GalleryArt for AllThe National Gallery aims to allow access to pieces of its collections to the public. It hopes to encourage an interest in art through public programs and the provision of free admission to all of its patrons.

Along with its regular operations, the National Gallery aims to support the arts by providing funding and support to artists.

The goal of the gallery is to foster an interest in art by providing easy access to all of its visitors.

Identity Goals

The National Gallery is a public museum that offers free admission to its patrons. Visitors are given free access to priceless works of art in a refined and quiet setting. In order to reach as many people as possible, the gallery seeks to be involved and appear friendly and open to all people, united in their interest in art.

An important aspect of the identity is to appear refined while also remaining accessible. there is no part of the gallery that compromises quality for quantity.

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Manual Applications

The brand identity is applied to a wide range of graphics and ephemera. The goal of these applications is to keep the composition ismple, use few decorative elements outside of the ones provided, and to look as unified as possible by following the design standards manual.

OverviewOur gallery is special, because it offers an opportunity for everyone to appreciate great art. It is of the utmost importance that all people have access to our museum, and have ways to get involved.

Our identity is based around accessibility, and the goal is to appear inviting and friendly. Our copy uses plain english and

often consists of a large, broad statement followed by a paragraph that expands upon the statement.

The bright, colorful look of the museum gives the organization a more open and friendly feeling.

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Use of Symbol

The National Gallery is an international symbol of classical art, as well as a symbol of British Pride. Through the use of inviting imagery, the organization hopes to create an image that is refined and inviting, urging the public to come to the museum and experience a depper connection to art.

TheNationalGallery

Extra LightThinExtra Light Thin ItalicThin ItalicLightLight ItalicMediumMedium Italic

SemiboldSemibold ItalicBoldBold ItalicExtra BoldExtra Bold ItalicBlackBlack Italic

Exo 2.0Aa

Typography

The font applied across the board is Exo 2.0. Exo comes in many different weights, allow-ing it to be used in a multitude of ways and places. Paragraphs have a leading of 1.5 times the height of the characters, and the tracking is never changed.

Text colors are white on darker backgrounds, and blue on lighter backgrounds, but never red

or brown. When header text is used, it is always bold, with the subheader text as semibold italic. The body text is always regular, with italics as needed in communication paragraphs.

All caps is never used in our copy. We never want to seem like we’re screaming, after all, we are a museum. Shhhhhh...

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Paragraph Styling

Paragraphs are kept light, with a leading that never exceeds more than three times the height of the characters. Double the line height is always left at the end of a paragraph, and indents are only used when multiple para-graphs are used.

Body text is always kept between 12-9pt. Header text is always between 32-36pt, and subheader text is always 75% of the header text height, around 27pt.

ColorPallette

The color pallette draws on the colors of the british fl ag. A toned down red and blue are used in conjunction with the white , and brown is used mostly as an accent color for diversifi cation purposes. Red is use more than blue, to keep away from an overly “patriotic” feeling. Most of the designs rely on a primary red-on-white or white-on-red.

Main Colors

Reduced Colors

Ultra Reduced

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Logo

Logotype

The logo is meant to emphasize the accesibility of the museum. It consists of a speech bubble, combined with four decorative corners to create a sort of Gestalt frame. The use of the speech bubble draws parallels to a dialogue about art.

The logo employs the colors of the british flag, and uses easy geometric shapes, similar to the already well established “Underground” logo.

The logotype consists of the logo accompanied by the museum title. The words are stacked, to provide a comarable and balancing weight to the logo.

TheNationalGallery

TheNationalGallery

Pictograms

The pictograms provide a more playful side of the gallery, catering towards families and visitors who may be visiting the gallery for the first time. The directional and informative pictorams use oft directional arrows and geometric human figures that are easy to recognize, while not being generic.

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The pictogram representing the store is based upon the inner shape of the logo, as well as the shape of the smaller giftbags visitors get from the store. This similar shape helps to show the store and the gallery as the same institution.

William BrightonChief Curator

(201) 000-0000Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN

John Smith5905 Wilshire BoulevardLos Angeles, California 90036323 857-6000

William BrightonWilliam BrightonChief Curator

(201) 000-0000Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN

John Smith5905 Wilshire BoulevardLos Angeles, California 90036Los Angeles, California 90036323 857-6000

Applied Objects

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Letters

Business Cards

Envelopes

All stationery for The National Gallery is kept simple and minimal. In the letters, the dotted accent lines are placed at the head of each para-graph to emphasize the grid breakdown.

The business cards also use the dotted lines to help better visualize the grid. The front features only the logo, while the back features only the bare minimum of text needed.

Fron the outside, the envelopes are relatively plain. They use the dotted accent lines, and fea-ture a small logo. Upon opening the envelope, the viewer encounters the damask pattern on a red background.

Spreading the WordThe goal of advertising a free museum is not to make money, but to inspire interest. The public has to know about the contents of the gallery before inspiring interest.

The ads created for The National Gallery commonly feature a figure from a given work at the center of the composition, with a few short lines of text to accompany it.

Most people seeing the ad are only giving it a passing glance on their way about their day. Therefore, The text is kept short and brief, to convey only the most important information in the quickest way possible.

Ads

ART IS FOR EVERYONE

That’s why all of our exhibitions are free, every day of the year.

TheNationalGallery

Trafalgar Square, London | WC2N 5DN(201) 000-0000

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The banners on the main building follow suit with the ads. They each feature a figure from one of the paint-ings, along with the gallery’s logo.

Human figures are kept as the focus of the ads in order to draw paralels to the general public observ-ing the art. The ads draw on our natural tendency to “people watch”.

Viewers are naturally curious about people portrayed in the paintings, hopefully leading to a museum visit.

Environmental Signage

TheNationalGallery

Magnifi cence in Renaissance VeniceDelit doloborpero consecte

duisi tate .

Magnifi cence in Renaissance VeniceDelit doloborpero consecte

duisi tate .

Magnifi cence in Renaissance VeniceDelit doloborpero consecte

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home paintings learning about contact shop

ART IS FOR EVERYONEFREE ADMISSION. YEAR ROUND.

Special Exhibitions

LEARN MORE

TICKETSTICKETS TICKETS

Veronese: Magnifi cence in

Renaissance Venice

Strange Beauty: Masters of German

RenaissanceNational Gallery: Masterpiece Tour

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Art for the Masses

A website is the most important part of an identity that anyone will see. It is the most accessible, holds the most content, and is the primary way to get information to users. Through the National Gallery website, users must be able to get the information they want as quick as possible.

For this reason, the site is designed with the most important information at the top, and secondary, tertiary, and quaternary information as the page reaches the bottom.

Users are fi rst presented with navigation, because it can be assumed that half of the users have visited the page before, and already have a page in mind.

Below navigation is the mission statement of the gallery, presenting the user with an option to learn what the gallery is all about. Below this, a rotating carousel of current and upcoming exhebitions informs users of the day-to-day operations of the museum, and presents them with an opportunity to purchase tickets for specially ticketed exhibitions.

TheNationalGallery

Magnifi cence in Renaissance VeniceDelit doloborpero consecte

duisi tate .

Magnifi cence in Renaissance VeniceDelit doloborpero consecte

duisi tate .

Magnifi cence in Renaissance VeniceDelit doloborpero consecte

duisi tate .

home paintings learning about contact shop

ART IS FOR EVERYONEFREE ADMISSION. YEAR ROUND.

Special Exhibitions

LEARN MORE

TICKETSTICKETS TICKETS

Veronese: Magnifi cence in

Renaissance Venice

Strange Beauty: Masters of German

RenaissanceNational Gallery: Masterpiece Tour

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Goods and WaresThe merchandise from the store refl ects aspects of the identity, including color pallette and symbol. The small bags feature an added bit of plastic on the bottom that gives them a similar shape as the inner section of the logo.

The button up shirts refl ect a potential direction for the gallery uniforms. The white shirts are accented by red buttons and a red lining inside the sleves.

Much of the merchandise features the damask pattern that is repeated across stationery, as well as the walls of the gallery itself.

THANK YOU

THANK YOU

TheNationalGallery

© 2014 The National GalleryDesigned for internal graphics use only. Do not ingest.