Who knew that a logo could cause such controversy?
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's new official design, which generates strong negative reaction this week, is part of a larger rebranding effort that the museum says is meant to signal a more welcoming, accessible, current institution.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a new logo: two short words -“ THE MET ” - in red lettering. The logo, along with new maps and signs, is part of a campaign to make the Met “feel more available and accessible to first-time as well as frequent visitors,” according to a museum spokesperson. The new designs also coincide with the Met’s expansion into Met Breuer, the Upper East Side building previously occupied by the Whitney Museum
' The new logo no longer relies on symbols and instead is based on the commonly used name ' The Met ' which has an immediacy that speaks to all audiences ' the museum said.
The current logo – which features the letter 'M' and was based on a woodcut by Fra Luca Pacioli, who taught mathematics to Leonardo Da Vinci – has been in use since 1971. Because it was featured for decades on every admission button, the symbol became visually identified with the Met.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art logo 1971
The iconic Met 'M' was actually drawn from the museum collection, from the ' Divina proportione ' woodcut in the Renaissance era book by Fra Luca Pacioli, design after Leonardo da Vinci. The design, which overlays the letter M on top of a circle and a square, with smaller circles resting on each serif, recalls Leonardo's famous 'Vitruvian Man ' drawing with its proportional geometry.
The new logo was designed by the firm Wolff Olins, part of a two-year project with the Met to rethink the museum’s approach to the public.
“They were really wanting to kick off an active effort to expand the reach and relevance of the Met,” said Amy Lee, the strategy director at Wolff Olins. “One of the amazing things about the Met is its incredible breadth and depth covering over 5,000 years of art across cultures. That is a huge asset, but it’s also quite a big challenge for them. Many people who encounter the Met can be overwhelmed by it; it can be quite hard to navigate.”
Ms. Lee also said her firm consulted with an advisory committee of nearly 30 museum employees from different departments ranging from curatorial to visitor experience. The design featuring conjoined letters grew out of the theme of connection, and the font is meant to be both classical and modern.
Not everyone shares enthusiasm for the new look, which was supposed to have been announced on March 1:
“In capital letters: ATROCIOUS,” said the prominent designer Karim Rashid. “We’re talking here about a museum that’s all about history. So the best thing they could do is hang on to keeping their mark — or their logo — historic.”
“I’m one for change, but there’s places to do change and there’s places not to do change,” Mr. Rashid, said. “Museums don’t need to be fashionable.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning music and architecture critic Justin Davidson described the logo as “two short words printed in scarlet letters, stacked and squashed together. The whole ensemble looks like a red double-decker bus that has stopped short, shoving the passengers into each other’s backs.”
