OUGD601 - Essay Research - Experimental Jetset and The Whitney

The Whitney Museum, 2015

In 2011, graphic design studio Experimental Jetset were approached by The Whitney Museum of American Art to design their new graphic identity. They were asked to create a new visual language that the Whitney’s in-house design team could work with thereafter. The redesign was carried out in 2013 in preparation for the museum's move in location from the ‘Breuer building’ at Madison Avenue to a new location - a museum designed by Renzo Piano - situated at the beginning of the High Line. By redesigning in 2013, the museum could introduce and establish the new Whitney identity well in advance of the move, which happened this year (2015)

The W-Shaped grid

Experimental Jetset's concept for the new Whitney identity was the ‘Responsive W.’ The idea concerned itself with a W-shaped construction platform for all kinds of text, a flexible grid of sorts. The thin line was described as an invitation to activity and interactivity – "it represents an area that needs to be signed, that needs to filled-in (or filled-out)." They wanted to produce an identity that could be interacted, engaged and connected with that represents "a blank canvas" for artists to put their signature on, be that via previous works or future works; The identity is to be open to things-to-come.

The redesigned WHITNEY identity.

The WHITNEY visual identity is contextually informed as if reflects the structural architecture of the new museum exterior. This enhances the identity through it's bespoke concept and considered visual language. Also, the interchangeability of the design allows for ease in terms of reproduction and adaptation. Contrary to this view, we feel that on a practical level the identity is restrictive, dominating and rigid in its communication visually. Although the designers produced the identity with a "need to be signed or filled", the visual functionality is limited when presented as a stand-alone image.