The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) introduced its current visual identity in 2018, designed by Abbott Miller and his team at the international design consultancy Pentagram. The identity debuted that summer, timed to the opening of the ICA Watershed, a satellite exhibition space in East Boston. Miller described the goal as creating an expression for the ICA that was “declarative but still inviting, contemporary, and accessible.” [1]
Design and History
The mark is set in stencil letterforms, a choice Pentagram says evokes openness and activity as well as the industrial heritage of Boston Harbor. The letters “I” and “A” act as formal bookends around a smaller “c,” highlighting the idea that “contemporary” is at the core of the museum’s mission and always in flux. The distinct scale of the “c” is a nod to the ICA’s original 1948 identity, when the museum changed its name from the Boston Museum of Modern Art to the Institute of Contemporary Art, becoming the first in the U.S. to use “contemporary” in its moniker. [2] The museum was founded in 1936 as the Boston Museum of Modern Art, a sister institution to New York’s MoMA, and changed its name in 1948. [3]
The new identity replaced a logo featuring the letters in white on a red background, which the ICA had introduced in 2006 when it moved to its waterfront building designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. [4] The 2018 identity was part of a comprehensive system that includes promotional collateral, animations, the website, and a new program of signage and environmental graphics for both the original building and the ICA Watershed. [2]
Miller noted that because several other contemporary art museums share the ICA acronym, the design team focused on typographic expression to create a strong gestalt in the ensemble of the letters and set the institution apart from similarly named ICAs in other cities. [1]
Meaning and Symbolism
Pentagram describes the identity as capturing the spirit of the museum in a mark that is “inviting, contemporary and accessible.” The stencil letterforms evoke openness and activity, as well as the industrial heritage of the Harbor. The smaller “c” positioned between the “I” and “A” emphasizes that “contemporary” is central to the museum’s mission and always in flux. [2]
Typography and Design
The principal colors of the identity are blue and black, visually linking it to the waterfront, accompanied by a secondary palette of bright, contemporary color. [2] The scalability of the logo allows it to be used effectively from a small emblem on a badge to a supergraphic on the museum facade. [2] The Boston Globe described the design as featuring a black sans-serif I, C, and A on a white background, with a notably smaller C linking the I and A. [4]
Logo Index is an independent educational archive covering logos, visual identities and graphic design history. All trademarks and brand assets remain the property of their respective owners.
