New NAi Now Corporate identity for the Netherlands Architecture Institute

7788 - De Designpolitie - NAi-1

The Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) was the largest institute of its kind in the world. It had two museums, an enormous archive and library, as well as a solid grounding in Dutch culture and the international world of architecture. Its activities included education, match-making, lobbying, research and development and showcasing. All very interesting, but not very visible to anyone who was not involved in architecture.

The next step for the NAI was to open up, step out of its comfort zone, and start communicating with new audiences. For this purpose we created a highly visible, almost activistic visual language.

The identity for the NAI was developed almost 30 years ago by Bruce Mau. He created a collection of photographed distortions of the logo to be used by ‘the talented designers of Holland’ at random.

For the rebranding of the institute we embraced that heritage and placed it inside a more defined mask. By doing so, we respected the continuity of the brand while making a big step forwards in terms of legibility, usability and visual impact.

Then we coined the New NAi Now slogan and the idea of using all materials for communication of ideas and content. Even the business cards were small pamphlets.

NAi Flags
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7788 - De Designpolitie - NAi-7
NAi_Online 1
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