The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York underwent a drastic rebrand in May 2013. Experimentalist Jetset were the design group responsible for this rebrand and their new 'interactive' 'W' is a logo I personally feel works on many levels.
The ‘W’ has a sense of movement, excitement and energy, which effectively portrays both the art contained within the building, and the city and the people that surround it. It has a strong rational, giving it the opportunity to be both quirky and iconic. Its unique shape can be manipulated for use on all branding and signage, making it consistent enough to be exciting but not repetitive enough to be dull. The ‘W’ transcends being a logo and almost becomes a tangible object, filling any given space with the capability to respond to both internal and external influences. With almost an infinite number of possibilities it’s strength comes in the fact that changing the proportions of the ‘W’ does not have any effect on the legibility of the letter, or the identity of the museum. Its thin marking has the potential to be mistaken for ‘understated’, but this actually works in the Whitney’s favour - a museum should not be about the brand, but about the work inside.
