The Philadelphia History Museum

February 3, 2010 • 12:11 pm • POSTED BY brendan quinn

I love Philadelphia.

There are no “yeah, buts” after that sentence. There is no irony attached to it. This fantastic, strange, beautiful, gritty, honest, intriguing, historical, quirky, wonderful place is my home and I’m proud to say that.

So I was stoked when the city’s official history museum, then called the Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia, became a client. However, I had never heard of the museum, even though I had spent roughly 70% of my life living within 20 miles of it. Apparently I wasn’t the only one, either. Lack of awareness was the museum’s biggest problem and one we tackled right away by renaming it the Philadelphia History Museum and creating an entirely new identity, beginning with a logo.

Turns out, creating a logo that represents a city with nearly 350 years of history is difficult. There are cliches to avoid (I’m looking at you, cheesesteaks, Rocky, and Liberty Bell), and just as many fascinating stories that are just too obscure to a general audience. So we looked at the history, the people, and this place for inspiration. Digging through the museum’s artifacts, we found this map of William Penn’s original plan for the city. It was a tight, orderly grid with interspersed parks–Penn’s vision was for a “Greene Country Towne.” That street plan still exists in what is now called Center City between Vine and South Streets.

We then thought about what cities are and how they affect the lives of those living within them. By their very nature, cities are confining– particularly one like Philadelphia, which is bounded by rivers on both sides. But those confined conditions are one of the things that makes Philadelphia a cultural hub. People from all walks of life live, work, and play within several square miles, making the best of the conditions that we have.

So the project’s designer, Adam Garcia, began sketching versions of Philadelphia’s grid.

We all liked this hand drawn version, as it echoed Penn’s original map while also containing the slight imperfections that make Philadelphia so unique and interesting. The final piece was adding type. And just like Philadelphia itself, that confining grid ended up giving the logo its distinctive character. Here’s the final product:

The odd word breaks convey Philly’s inherent quirkiness, and the custom typeface pays homage to the city’s rich printing and typographic history (for instance, the nation’s first type foundry may have begun in Philadelphia). It all combines to make a logo that we’re quite proud of. We’ve done plenty more work for the museum, including building a story-based brand that begins a conversation and entertainingly educates consumers before they ever set foot in the museum. For instance, did you know that our patron saint, William Penn, was the godfather of the city’s microbrew movement?

Take a look at the full Philadelphia History Museum case study by clicking here. Oh, and go Phillies.