Aspen Art Museum Identity System
Aspen is a seasonal town. In winter, life is precise and severe. In contrast, summer in Aspen is lurid, steadfast, and robust. Fall and Spring are like liminal spaces, slowly anticipating what is to come.
As a non-collecting museum, the Aspen Art Museum's program portrays a similar cyclical and rhythmic nature. The AAM identity system reflects this through a commissioned seasonal typeface designed by Radim Pesko called Aspen. The font consists of five styles, one for each season and a fifth called perennial for use year-round. The word mark is a stack of the four seasonal weights, reflecting the museum's latticed facade and acting as an ever-present inventory beginning with summer, the season the AAM opened the doors to its new building in 2014.
The application of the museum's brand is far-reaching and includes interpretive materials, exhibitions, marketing campaigns, social media, video, website, signage, advertising, education materials, and more we are probably leaving out.
With Sarah Fowler and Parker Sprout.
Branding, Identity, Website, Exhibitions, Signage, Marketing, Content Strategy, Editorial
In advance of the launch and opening, artist Margaret Lee was commissioned to spend two weeks in Aspen—divided between winter and summer—creating new photographs interpreting Aspen during its two most prominent seasons. The new works further reinforce the mission and seasonal rhythm of the AAM during its first year in its new home.
New York-based studio, Linked by Air was commissioned to design and program the AAM website utilizing the identity system. In the same manner as the print and environmental graphics, the typography on the site rotates between seasons, changing over each solstice and equinox.
