The Museum of London has revealed a new visual identity to accompany its new name (it’s now simply London Museum), and at its heart is one of the most fun logo designs we’ve seen for a while. Because how many other logos involve a pigeon doing a glitter poo?
Designed with Uncommon Creative Studio, the characterful and distinctive new logo is designed to represent “a symbol of London’s dualities,” – and like all of the best logos, it’s a little deeper than it first appears.
The pigeon itself is cast from London clay, while its splat is rendered in glitter. And the combination is designed to make people think differently about London. “The pigeon and splat speak to a historic place full of dualities, a place where the grit and the glitter have existed side by side for millennia,” London Museum announces on its website. We share our city with others, including millions of animals. Pigeons are all over London and so are we.”
So, yes, the new London Museum logo is a clay pigeon doing a glitter poo. Which, in my opinion, is brilliant. With a sense of heritage (and stakeholders) to appeal to, Museum branding isn’t always famous for its personality – but this somehow manages to combine pop art fun with a sense of history and place.
After a series of focus groups and consultations with over 500 Londoners, London Museum discovered that its existing design, adopted in 2008, had become “unpopular, representing neither our identity nor aspirations”. Londoners told the museum they wanted the new design to be grounded in the realities of London life. As Uncommon founder Nils Leonard puts it, “The answer had been strutting around in front of us the whole time. You can find it in the grit and the glitter, proud in every borough, and now immortalised in this identity.”
“London Museum’s new brand is characterful and distinctive, and communicates something important about London,” says Josh Green, head of design at London Museum Over time people will come to recognise the pigeon and splat as signifiers of London Museum and everything it stands for.”
