Norway Museum's Redesign Models Strategic Branding
The visual identity project for Norway’s National Museum in Oslo is being showcased as a case study in strategic design. The project demonstrates how a public institution can align its brand and user-facing touchpoints with its core mission. This approach is applicable to government agencies, like science funders, seeking to build trust and clarity with their stakeholders.
- The new building, which opened in June 2022 at a cost of over $650 million, consolidated the collections of five separate institutions: the Museum of Architecture, the Museum of Industrial Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, and the National Gallery of Norway. - Oslo-based consultancy Metric designed the museum's core visual identity, while the agency Endpoint was tasked with developing the bilingual wayfinding system in both Norwegian and English to navigate the 54,600-square-meter space. - The digital user experience, designed by the studio Bleed, includes a mobile app with an audio guide and specialized routes for visitors with visual or hearing impairments, directly addressing accessibility mandates for public institutions. - The building's architect, Klaus Schuwerk, was guided by the Vitruvian principle of “Firmitas,” meaning "solid and lasting," which influenced the use of timeless materials like slate and oak and informed the durable, functional, and beautiful branding system. - Before the delayed opening, a public engagement campaign called "Art is Coming Home" took iconic artworks on a 36-stop tour across Norway, exhibiting them in unconventional locations like a prison, a nursing home, and a military camp to connect with diverse communities. - The new museum is the largest in the Nordic countries, with 86 galleries across two floors displaying over 6,500 works from a total collection of over 400,000 objects.
