I was tasked with a hypothetical rebrand of the Museum of Bad Art in one of my branding classes. The Museum of Bad Art, or MOBA, is a museum centered around “art that would not be welcomed into any traditional art museum”.

My goal for MOBA was to create a brand identity centered around the unapologetic strangeness of their galleries, drawing people in with humor and a self-deprecating language that welcomes all the art lovers in to see their craft at its best… of the worst. My intention was to be purposeful, and to carefully tread the line to make bad look good.

Space

I also took the opportunity to ideate for a larger scale space that MOBA could inhabit, this time above ground and possibly with a coffee shop addition for patrons of the museum as well as others who may subsequently become interested in what the gallery has to offer.

Gift Shop

Designs for a gift shop featuring key identity marks also become useful advertising for the client, implementing demonstrating both the unapologetic silliness and versatility of the brand marks.

Advertising

Sufficient Advertising opportunities were important to me in my rebrand, as the museum’s original location was in a basement with little view of the street.

I chose a yellow base for advertising as the color against black and white is striking to the eye.

By keeping advertising simple and bold, viewers will be drawn in by the confident strangeness, and wonder what else the brand has to offer. The content of these advertisements can also easily be tweaked for social media as an extra platform to gain interest.

Brand Elements

Implementation of hand drawn elements adds to the character of the brand, continuing the feel of confident imperfection. Using my experience as a nanny, having seen many a drawing done haphazardly, I emulated a childlike silliness and created a repeatable pattern made of quirky characters inspired by the kids I have worked with and their art.

View the MOBA Brand Guidelines Book Here!