Project overview

Strategy
Branding
Illustration
Photography
Campaigns

Amgueddfa Cymru is the name for the collection of Wales’ seven national museums. We were awarded the work to reimagine and reposition Amgueddfa Cymru’s brand, from traditional, academic and passive, to powerful, inspirational and a force for change in the evolving story of Wales.

Inspired by this spirit of activism, we radically refreshed the brand identity to bring clarity, cohesion and consistency to the family of museums – telling the inspiring story of an institution that belongs to everyone.

A family of museums

Proudly leading with the Welsh-language name (Amgueddfa Cymru) we designed a brand identity system that could encompass the wide variety of specialisms covered by the seven museums.

For the people

‘Your story. Your museum.’ This proposition is about ownership – it invites the people to Wales to come and find their own stories within the museum’s exhibitions, and to play a part in shaping those stories too.

We wanted to convey this with a dynamic design system. Inspired by activist communications, we used bold type, layered imagery and a depth of character to help define a new visual direction for our national museums.

A collage of historic activist sloguns.
A collage of historic activist sloguns.
A lightbox outside National Mueum Cardiff.
Exterior of National Museum Wales.

Welsh by design

Welsh at its core, the museum brand needed to be able to communicate boldly in both Welsh and English. We commissioned a bespoke family of typefaces, in collaboration with type designer Marc Rouault, to allow us a confident voice in both languages. This bilingual approach, with Welsh leading the way, supports Welsh Government’s target of one million Welsh speakers by 2050.

The Welsh alphabet set in the Amgueddfa Headline typeface.
The alphabet set in the Amgueddfa Body typeface.

A collective of touchpoints

Our brand toolkit offers Amgueddfa Cymru a multitude of applications to support the breadth and detail required for a collection of museums. It includes signage, iconography, merchandise, digital and more.

A red Amgueddfa Cymru / Museum Wales tote bag worn over the shoulder of a male model.
An example of signage at National Museum Cardiff showing directions to the café and toilets.

Brand family focused

The new brand identity system is flexible enough to allow each museum site its own personality, while still looking and feeling like part of Amgueddfa Cymru. This approach supports brand rollout and development over the coming years.

“Uned have a wealth of experience working with bilingual brands… They understand the complexity of large organisations and provided us with all the tools needed to create an exciting and engaging brand.”
Lowri Williams
Head of exhibitions, Amgueddfa Cymru

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