Crafting a visual identity for a social innovation lab advancing the discoverability of the visual arts
Arts visibles is a social innovation lab led by the Regroupement des artistes en arts visuels du Québec (RAAV). Bringing together artists, cultural organizations, researchers, and digital experts, its mission is to strengthen the discoverability of the visual arts on the web. The lab is a collaborative initiative to help a historically fragmented sector build common knowledge and tools, and to develop shared practices.
As arts visibles grew into an ecosystem of research and partnerships, it needed an identity capable of expressing the complexity of its mission and the diversity of the community behind it. I led the art direction, visual identity, and website design, developing an identity system that is intentionally heterogeneous, much like the ecosystem it is meant to represent.
with
Regroupement des artistes en arts visuels (RAAV)
Frédéric Cordier (lead project manager)
my role
- Art direction
- Identity system
- Graphic design
- Web design
- UX
A logo gradually emerges into view
The primary typeface at the heart of arts visibles’ identity system is Krata, a font developed through a generative approach combining design and programming. Its varying weights assemble into a modular wordmark in which the word “arts” gradually emerges into view, echoing the notion of discoverability.
Expressive type
An expressive typographic system combines Manuka for display with Syne for body copy and UI elements. With its closed apertures and sharp joins, Manuka brings the textures of “sunlight sparkling through a forest canopy”, while Syne is itself an exploration of unusual weight combinations. Together, they lend arts visibles a plural, confident voice that reflects the diversity of the ecosystem it represents.
Motifs of discoverability
The identity system also features a series of digital motifs, constructed from typographic fragments from the Krata typeset. Far from being merely ornamental, these patterns suggest information gradually organizing itself into meaningful structures, thus embodying the notion of discoverability.
An eclectic visual language
The Krata motifs coexist with handwritten scribbles, text highlights, abstract collages, and ink illustrations, to create a visual language that mirrors the visual arts ecosystem itself: diverse, eclectic, and often fragmented across decentralized practices of discoverability.
