The Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul has been passionately building its collection of Korean, international, modern and contemporary art since 2004. In 2021, following a pandemic which had isolated the public from cultural institutions and from one another, the Leeum team saw an opportunity to redefine the museum’s ambition and to celebrate a new cultural attitude for the people and visitors of South Korea. They set a new ambition for Leeum to become an open, modern and vibrant space of convergence: where ideas, culture and people could freely intersect. We partnered with Leeum to co-create a dynamic new brand system that reflected this new ambition as well as a dramatic overhaul of the museum’s building, digital services, and exhibitions.

A moving identity 

The foundation of our identity development was a striking new logo that reflects both Leeum’s diverse collection and the shape of the building itself, first capturing the eye as an elegant design object, then as a name. The logo is built to move—and became the cornerstone of an entire system of motion behaviors, colours, and typefaces that play with scale to reflect the breadth of art in the museum’s collection. The movement and dynamism of the overall system embody the spirit of convergence: different people, experiences, artworks and perspectives in motion together, colliding, intersecting and playing off one another.

Connecting through experience 

To get the brand ready to launch upon reopening, the identity went beyond logo and palettes—it came to life across the entire customer journey, from signage and comms to social media and augmented reality experiences. The result is a brand that invites guests to participate and interact with it, from the Instagram feed to the gallery wall, in an infinite conversation. “Seeing the new brand identity live across the museum has created a special shift within the space, clearly showing our purpose to visitors, highlighting convergence not difference,” said Eunjung Cho, Managing Officer of the museum. “Thanks to [Wolff Olins]’ work, we can see visitors are now interacting differently with all our exhibits. It’s wonderful to see.” The new identity was an important part of Leeum’s long-awaited complete transformation and renovation project, helping the museum boost monthly visitor numbers from 13,000 to more than 20,000.

_{Credits:
Leeum Museum of Art / Kimsooja Studio, Artist / Seungbeom Hur, Photography / Ordinary People}