Museum of the City of New York

Context

Leverage MCNY’s centennial anniversary to generate fundraising momentum and inspire an identity that highlights the museum’s intimate relationship with NYC.

Strategy

Develop a brand strategy and modular messaging and design system that positions MCNY as New York’s storyteller and celebrates its unparalleled contribution to culture.

Solution

A new centennial logo, campaign strategy, collateral, presentations, and brand film that empowered leadership to appeal to benefactors and articulate their future vision.

Creative Context

A quintessentially NYC identity 100 years in the making.

Few institutions know New York City as intimately as the Museum of the City of New York. To usher in its centennial anniversary, the museum needed a signature mark to elevate its design, consumer-facing marketing, and fundraising collateral throughout the year.

Taking inspiration from MCNY’s signature centennial exhibit, This Is New York: 100 Years of the City in Art and Pop Culture, we created a mark that visualizes the city’s story coming full circle. By introducing a signature circle into hero “MCNY” and “100” design elements, the identity is inherently tethered to the museum while also offering a portal into iconic, unmistakably NYC moments over the past century.

Museum of the City of New York Centennial Gala photo of Michael Bloomberg and mayor Eric Adams

Museum of the City of New York Centennial Gala attendees

Museum of the City of New York Centennial Gala collateral

Museum of the City of New York Centennial Gala collateral fry wraps

Museum of the City of New York Centennial Gala collateral invitations

Museum of the City of New York MCNY 100 coffee cup

Museum of the City of New York MCNY 100 mobile website iPhone

Museum of the City of New York MCNY 100 coasters

Museum of the City of New York MCNY 100 presentation page layouts

Museum of the City of New York MCNY 100 letterhead

Centennial Branding

Amplifying the anniversary across the museum—and throughout the city.

Under the guidance of Sheryl Victor Levy, Vice President, Marketing and Communications and Dave Statman, Executive Creative Director, a spectrum of collateral and activations were designed to introduce MCNY’s centennial branding to the public, museum patrons, and benefactors. Anchored by a modern, vibrant palette that captures the energy of the city, the identity was implemented across the museum’s website, social media, and Gala celebration collateral. The new color palette even lit up the Empire State Building in honor of the celebration.

The centennial branding culminates with a short film that tells an emotionally-driven story of the museum’s one-of-a-kind, symbiotic relationship with New York City—anchored by the identity’s signature circle motif throughout.

Services

Campaign Strategy –– Visual Identity –– Tagline –– Copywriting –– Logo Design –– Graphic Design –– Print Design –– Animation –– Editing –– Music Supervision –– Brand Guidelines –– Toolkits