San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Opening Exhibition Graphics

Coinciding with the opening of the museum’s expanded new building, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art embarked on a profound reexamination of its values, its experience principles and its relationship to its audiences. The program was expanded and changed, the brand repositioned and the visual identity reimagined. As part of this effort, the institution’s new visual identity, designed by SFMOMA’s in-house design studio, extended its newly conceived visual identity into a cohesive museum-wide exhibition graphics system to support the inaugural opening set of exhibitions that, like its new building and the new visual identity, were designed to be open, surprising and welcoming. The strategy for the graphics needed to consider the experience of the entirety of the museum, which was nearly triple its previous size. The opening set of exhibitions included objects from three different collections: the Fisher Collection, gifts of art from the community and beloved favorites from the SFMOMA Collection.

Design Team

Jennifer Sonderby (design director), Bosco Hernandez (art director and project lead), James Provenza (senior designer), Amy Yu Gray (designer), Mathieu Stemmelen (designer), Sophine Lim (designer), Carrie Taffel (project coordinator) 

Project Area

170,000 sq ft

Consultants

Tina Henderson (typesetting)

Fabricators

Jonathan Hirabayashi Design (vinyl), New Bohemia (handlettering, 3D signs)