Logo Redesigned: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Goodbye Griffin and Hello Fancy “A”

The iconic griffin is taking off from the Philadelphia Museum of Art logo to be replaced by an emphasized and flexible “Art”.

Considered as one of the largest museums in the United States, the Philadelphia Museum of Art houses a collection of more than 227,000 objects across 200 galleries.

These objects vary from painting to sculpture to photography, textile, decorative art and architectural settings from various countries. The museum has recently unraveled a master plan to revamp as well as to expand.

Along with the announcement the museum also revealed a new identity which was designed by the famed designer and Pentagram’s Paula Scher.

The new logo’s ultimate goal is to tell the people that the museum’s building is filled with amazing artworks.

Scher made use of the huge artwork collection and used pieces of it to transform the letter “A” to represent the collection.Not only to highlight the vast collection but also to put the art in front and at the center according to Pentagram.

The new logo still features Avenir as the sole typeface and will be used not only on the museum’s publications but to it’s signage and other communication systems.

According to Pentagram the customized “A” will be mostly used for special exhibitions, programs, ticket, retail items and other special promotions. The standard “A” on the other hand will be applied to most materials and could be applied in a variety of color combination. The colors will have to depend on the artwork the typeface has to complement.

While the logo may have that contemporary minimalist vibe, a few pundits however claimed that the logo was too bland, generic and utterly forgettable. There are those who said that Scher and her team had completely forgotten about the griffin as well as the Rocky steps and those are parts of the museum as well and should be included. Some even claim that the logo looks like something that was design in Microsoft Word.

Of course one cannot please everyone but that does not negate the fact that the simplicity and flexibility of new logo for the Philadelphia Museum of Art is something to take note of. What do you think? Did Pentagram nailed it or did they missed it? Share your thoughts at the comments below. Do check us out in Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest for more design news and inspiration.