Dizaina Studija. Telpa Forma Laiks

The Latvian Museum of Photography has adopted a new, contemporary graphic identity. Its author is Sandijs Ruļuks from the design studio Hungry Lab. The logo has been designed as a graphic portrayal of the working principle of a lens. A technical sketch has been simplified and abstracted, in this way making the symbol versatile, able to be varied, and creating the opportunity to play upon it through clever drawing. In order to strengthen its dynamic and to intensify the effect of movement, the sign has a tailored background in the form of a slanting rectangle, which also facilitated its use in various – colourful or specific – compositions. The slanted line is used as the most distinctive element of the graphic identity – it has been incorporated in the template for both invitations and posters, as well as in the business cards. The designer has not shied away from cutting the corner off the photograph in the invitation and poster designs, to leave a space for the text, in this way emphasising the museum itself, rather than the photograph, and the museum’s targeted activities with regard to photography. The active spirit of the museum is also emphasised by the use of the colour red, which is not only associated with passionate action, but also with the red light essential in developing and printing photographs. The logo also has a black and white version; the font used for the letter design – Futura Medium – is practical and rational, and it successfully conveys the exactness required by photography. www.fotomuzejs.lv

“From the very start we knew that the museum resources were limited, therefore we had to create a system which the museum staff themselves could use to make changes and, if necessary, also create new materials. This caused some difficulties, because we had to foresee all of the possible ways where things could go wrong, but eventually we came to a solution that allowed us to maintain visual continuity in the invitations and posters, irrespective of the content. A similar approach was also chosen for the web page – the same visual system was associated with the modular design,” commented Sandijs Ruļuks who lives and works in Amsterdam at the time the museum’s new graphic style is launched. www.ruluks.net