A new design and concept that has quickly gained popularity. The authors of the visual concept and identity of the Museum Card from the conceptual design agency – Identity creative director Ionel Lehari and designer Meelis Opmann talk about this.
The museum card is a joint ticket for Estonian museums, with which you can visit more than 100 museums, galleries and experience centers without limits during the year. The purpose of the museum card is to enable visits to several different museums across Estonia with one ticket. The museum card was launched on April 11 this year at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Ionel:
The idea first arose when I organized a museum bearer conference including the museum association for all museums in Tartu, but Ruth Laidvee (History Museum) took the initiative after getting to know the Finnish Museokortti project. Ruth Laidvee formed a strong team, and the project was involved through the Identity competition, which was used to move from start to finish to the launch of the project. The task of Identity was to create a complete idea and visual concept of the museum card.
Ionel:
I have a very big role in the fact that we at Identity have presented the field of museums so strongly because I myself am a big museum enthusiast and we have done many temporary exhibitions, permanent exhibitions, and museum brands. In other words, we have had cooperation with museums in almost all forms.
Meelis:
On the Estonian scale, it was a new idea that had not been implemented in such a scale or form before, and it also gave the creative agency the opportunity to create a visual for a new product in Estonia.
Ionel:
The project started and proceeded quickly and painlessly, largely because Identity was well-versed in the background landscape and also well-known in the museum scene. My role was to lead the creative team, raising various issues and discussing possible solutions so that the end result would be perfect.
Meelis:
My role was the graphic development of the entire visual expression. Initially, there were many ideas, but the motif of the journey, which turned out to be the most suitable, came to us quite organically.
Ionel:
We came up with the idea of walking through the museums of Estonia. The idea was great, but a question arose – won’t we have a visual cringe-crab due to the abundance of museums? What happens when we need to show the right paths in a compact material – do we do the paths abstractly or one-to-one with the right parameters? As a result of these thoughts, we had discussions and made developments to test how the idea would work or not work in all kinds of situations.
Ionel:
The one that everyone dreams of went especially well – the first idea comes and it is recognized by the designer, the creative director, the project manager, the client – everyone agrees that the first idea was a good idea.
Meelis:
We came up with a very cool result, which can also be easily and aptly expanded to different materials in terms of the system. Also, in this case, quick recognition is a big bonus, i.e. the Museum Card got a very unique look, a design that speaks very clearly about the content as well. The positive feedback after the launch has been a nice recognition, which has also confirmed the correctness of the idea and visual concept.
Ionel:
In the case of the logo, the correct criteria are already clearly described in the statement of the task. First, the design must be active, which immediately informs the color choice – it cannot be an adventurous beige or a passionate gray, because it will disappear into the noise. In other words, the design of the finally chosen Museum card is campaign-like, simple and with strong signal color properties. The identity form is actually simple, primitive, precise and focused on only one thing in terms of communication, i.e. in marketing communication, the logo must say one thing, and the pinpoint idea was perfect for that. All in all, the situation and the name itself in some sense dictated this solution. As a result, communication is rather simple – “Come and let’s visit different museums”.
Meelis:
I really like the visuals we came up with, especially because the whole system we created is constantly changing over time. The logo is alive, and changes its position and size according to the journey.
Ionel:
The coverage of the beginning was quite there. Marko Reikop’s clip “Ringvaates” was quite upbeat and worked well. In the museum community, this announcement was certainly of great news value, which I also noticed in various media. In my opinion, the bigger issue is follow-up communication. How to increase the number of users of Museum card services? One thing is the market entry and the initial information boom that arises from the fact that it is a new pan-Estonian service. There is another situation that keeps the Museum Card stable in the picture. This is now a challenge for the future advertising agency, whether to link the communication of the Museum card with the activities of the museum or to come up with something completely new. But this is already the music of the future.
Ionel:
Still, the value proposition and the unique value that you get for this money – you actually get the real thing for that. If we consider the current museum ticket prices, we can see that a big change has taken place. The museum card gives you the opportunity to visit more than 100 museums with 1 ticket purchase. Estonian people are fond of culture and museums, and this should definitely not be ignored. Also, a visit to a museum is a good format for getting to know the culture – it is not too intense and allows people to get to know the special features of the exhibitions or exposition at their own pace. I sincerely believe that this is a relevant and truly valuable proposition.
Ionel:
In the near future, I see that the number of Museum Card users in Estonia could initially increase. With this service, there is room for expansion, especially in an expansive plan, where it could go cross-border. Either integrate the system with the Finnish Museokortti or export the system to Latvia or Lithuania. On a large scale, it would be possible to lay the foundation for a pan-European Museum Card system and join hands with the Dutch, who already have a working system with 1.3 million active Museum Card users.
The working function is the same in several places, the only task would be to assemble these working systems. Apart from expansive expansion, there is also the possibility of going deep. Either come up with some additional benefits for Museum card holders with dinners or other free options or leave the system as simple and understandable as it is at the moment.
Meelis:
At the moment, you can buy museum cards of different countries in separate applications, but there is no common system, it would also require a common international brand. There is definitely a possibility that in the future the museum card will grow into an international project between neighboring countries. Identity is not just a visual or design agency, you can go with us from the seed of the idea to the final result because the team is brilliant and has great ideas. The museum card is one of several examples that, when analyzed, can be understood that Identity was able to generate a complete identity and creative solution for the product. Don’t be afraid to come to us with your great idea and we will start searching for its identity together.