The Icon Museum and Study Center Rebranding
Wilcox Design was engaged by the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, Massachusetts, to develop a new brand, including a new name to reflect its evolution from a passion project of its founder to present his expansive collection of Russian Icons to an international locus for the exhibition, collection, and study of Eastern Christian art.
Growing out of a recent strategic planning process, the rebrand needed to emphasize a revitalized mission to balance exhibition and scholarship, while reflecting the expansion of its collection to include sacred icons from the full range of Eastern Christian cultures. The new name, mission, and graphic identity were unveiled at a “Big Reveal” event on October 14 to celebrate the museum’s 25th anniversary.
A New Name and Tagline
The Wilcox Design team, including strategist Kim Carlin, conducted extensive interviews with the organization’s staff and volunteers, leadership, and community members. Sharing our findings, we led a core brand committee of Board members and museum leadership through an exploration of naming options, landing on The Icon Museum and Study Center, and a tagline: Illuminating the art of the sacred icon. Explains Jean Wilcox, principal of Wilcox Design:
“The name emerged from a very collaborative process. It is both an accurate reflection of who they are, and a bold statement of the leadership role they are claiming as the only organization entirely devoted to the collection, exhibition, and study of Eastern Christian art in the U.S.”
From: Museum of Russian Icons / Center for Icon Studies
To: The Icon Museum and Study Center
Renaming Encompasses the Full Mission and Vision
• The new name puts “The Icon” first
• It asserts leadership and uniqueness with “The”
• It includes key words from existing names—builds on the existing foundation and doesn’t reinvent the wheel
• This forefronts “Museum”—respects and honors the historic role as a destination/economic driver in Clinton
• This raises visibility of icon studies—signals an expanded role beyond Clinton
• It removes “Russian”—allows continuation of current focus but also room for growth and new directions
• Modern and simple—signals a forward-looking mission and vision
Visual Rebrand
The visual rebranding grew out of a deep dive into the “iconography” and structure of sacred icons, identifying several key elements to consider in developing a new logo: their symmetry and framing/placement of images, and the circle as a metaphor and as expressed through the ubiquitous halo.
The new logo features a typographic rendering of the halo which is a key feature of all icons. The negative space indicates a head and shoulders.
The golden color is a bright, warm, illuminating tone that connects to the gold leaf embellishment featured on icons.
Website
The updated web structure brings the Study Center into balance with the Museum. New landing page content brought to life our messaging recommendations, which highlighted three key themes for all messaging—icons are our focus, icons are important, we are a unique destination—and identified key messages by target audience.
The client’s goal was to create a visually stunning, image-rich experience not only to encourage in-person visitation, but to make the website a destination in its own right.
The homepage is a dynamic entry point for visitors, offering an at-a-glance view of current offerings and an easily absorbable description of the IM+SC mission and focus.
The collection landing page allows users to browse the museum’s collection and sort images by cultural origin.
In keeping with the IM+SC mission of “illuminating the art of the sacred icon,” we collaborated with the museum team to develop a unique visual resource for those unfamiliar with icons.
Wilcox Design Project Team
Project director and designer: Jean Wilcox, Wilcox Design
Writer and content strategist: Kim Carlin
Web developer: Douglas Green
Photographer: Andrew Ryan