Branding and establishing a contemporary art gallery

Established in 2017, the Hancock Gallery is a contemporary art gallery with an eclectic mix of artists on rotation. These include globally recognised names like L.S. Lowry, Mark Demsteader and Petra Schott, to up-and-coming talents like Noelle Phares and SJ Furest. 

The gallery needed our help developing a brand identity that communicated being well-established yet contemporary, holding both traditional and highly contemporary art under one roof.

We worked to create a brand identity that accommodates this by being very versatile. A sans serif but widely-tracked custom upper case logotype gives a confident established feel. The interchangeable descriptor beneath provides a mechanic for inserting artists’ names or exhibition titles.

A subtle underscore graphical device is positioned under sections of copy. This helps separate content, always maintaining the same scale as in the logotype to keep everything visually harmonious.

The colour palette of mainly white and black with some minimal use of antique bronze sits comfortably against even the most eclectic of artworks. This allows the gallery to present any artwork with elegance. 

The typeface selection allows the contemporary and traditional to sit well together. Noe Display as a contemporary sharp but weighty serif gives great impact in the headlines while Maison Neue with its clean slightly condensed sans serif forms feels very considered.