Silver DBA Design Effectiveness Awards
Featured Art Fund Report
Member Arts Marketing Association
Most arts organisations are better than their brand suggests.
The work is extraordinary. The brand is an afterthought. That gap costs you visitors, supporters, funding and the talent you need to grow.
A clear, confident and distinctive brand helps arts organisations do more of what they do best. It reaches new audiences. It makes the case to funders. It gives your team something to believe in. Done right, it pays for itself.
Art Fund commissioned two major research studies into how museums can use emotional branding to grow their support. Our work for The Story Museum is featured throughout as an exemplar. You can read the report here.
When arts organisations rebrand
01 / A new building or major refurbishment
A capital project is a natural moment to ask bigger questions. Who are you now? What do you want people to feel when they arrive? A rebrand makes the most of the investment you have already made.
02 / A new director and a new direction
Leadership changes bring new ambitions. A rebrand signals that change to audiences, funders and your own team. It gives everyone something to rally behind.
03 / To reach new audiences
Many cultural organisations are known and loved by a narrow group. A rebrand helps you speak to people who have never heard of you, without losing the people who have.
What we do for arts and cultural organisations
Brand strategy and positioning
Finding the genuine character of your organisation and making a compelling case for it, to audiences, funders and the people who work there.
Brand identity
Logo, typography, colour and the full visual system. Built to work across everything from social media to signage to exhibition materials.
Tone of voice
How your organisation speaks. Clear, warm and distinctive.
Campaigns
Subscription drives, fundraising campaigns and audience development. Creative work that gets results.
Digital
Website strategy, design and build, built around your brand and your audience development goals.
Brand management
Ongoing guardianship as your programme, team and ambitions evolve.
Our work for arts and cultural organisations has grown visitor numbers, increased income, attracted new audiences and helped organisations make the case for what they do. Here’s the evidence.
The Story Museum
“A bold and exciting new identity.” | Footfall +329% | Gross income +79% | Ticket income +241% | Silver DBA Design Effectiveness Awards 2026
Oxford’s most unusual museum, celebrating story in all its forms. After a major refurbishment, our brief was to give the museum a brand as surprising and imaginative as the place itself. We created the positioning ‘A surprise around every corner’ and a flexible identity built to work from bus shelters to social media.
One of the world’s great theatres, rebranded to mark a new chapter in its 200-year history.
Our brief: create an identity that honoured that heritage while signalling bold new intent. The new crest and visual language were built to work across everything from programmes to signage.
“A particularly strong and impactful multi-channel campaign.” Lucy Rogers-Coltman, London Review of Books
Europe’s leading magazine of books and ideas. We created the ‘Curious Minds’ subscription campaign featuring the work of artist Alexander Gorlizki, surprising and provocative imagery that captures exactly what the LRB does with its writing. The campaign ran across social media, print and out of home.
“A powerful contemporary design which is perfect.” Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate
The Poetry Society asked us to create an identity for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry, created by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. We used the crow image from Ted Hughes’ breakthrough collection, a bold, distinctive mark that led to a further commission for the National Poetry Competition.
“Wondrous.” Susanna Barnes, Head of Libraries, Lambeth Council
A network of south London libraries reopening after major refurbishment. Our brief: make the libraries feel like a destination. New identity, naming architecture and environmental graphics across the network.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a rebrand and a brand refresh for a cultural organisation?
A rebrand involves rethinking your positioning and creating a new identity from the ground up. A brand refresh updates existing visual elements without changing the underlying strategy. We recommend starting with a conversation to understand which approach your organisation actually needs.
Do you work with smaller arts organisations?
Yes. We work with organisations of all sizes, from national institutions to local charities. What matters is not the scale of your organisation but the clarity of your ambition.
How do you handle the complexity of arts organisations, with multiple audiences?
This is one of the most common challenges in cultural branding. Our approach builds from a single, clear core story that speaks to all your audiences without diluting into nothing. The best cultural brands don’t try to say different things to different people. They say one true thing that resonates across all of them.
What results can we expect?
The Story Museum saw footfall grow by 329% and gross income increase by 79% following their rebrand. Visitor numbers have grown consistently year on year since 2021. Results depend on your organisation, your market and your ambition. But a well-executed rebrand consistently pays for itself.
