KENNEDY ART CENTER BRANDING.

Overview.

Marion Design Co. partnered with Chris Kennedy to establish the Kennedy Art Center, which opened on May 5, 2023 in downtown Marion. Leading up to the grand opening, Marion Design Co. also developed a visual brand identity for the Kennedy Art Center.

Background.

Marion Design Co.’s partnership with Chris Kennedy began in 2018, as we envisioned a space that could function as both an art gallery and design studio. Over the coming years, Marion Design Co. worked to design the interior and exterior of the space that would become the Kennedy Art Center. As construction went on in the building, we spent the early months of 2023 creating a visual identity for the center.

Our client hoped to make the Kennedy Art Center a place that could inspire local artists, enliven the community, and reflect the legacy of the Kennedy family. We knew early on that to accomplish these goals, we wanted to create a timeless design that could spark excitement and generate collaboration. 

We also knew we wanted to honor the Kennedys’ historic impact in Marion. Hartson-Kennedy Cabinet Top Co. has grown and flourished in Marion for over 70 years, and many members of the family have also flourished in artistic endeavors. From watercolor to sculpture, singing to gardening, and cartooning to poetry, the members of the Kennedy family have invested in the arts throughout the generations. The Kennedy Art Center is the next chapter in their investment.

Objectives.

Vibrancy

The brand had to infuse the space with energy, reminding guests of their creative potential.

Heritage

The visual identity needed to connect to the Kennedys’ history of dedication to the arts.

Community

One of the main goals of the Kennedy Art Center is to empower the local community, both to be creative and to have brave conversations.

Process.

Our team began by researching and meeting with the client. Once we understood the client’s needs and goals, we conducted a competitor brand audit, identified our target audience, and created a synthesis of values for the project. During this stage, we asked ourselves and our client some key questions:

What is the greater purpose behind the Kennedy Art Center?

What core values will guide the business?

How does the business differ from its competitors?

How do we want guests to describe their experience with the Kennedy Art Center?

In thinking through these questions and creating a branding brief, we located the mission of the Kennedy Art Center: to celebrate and empower Grant County artists by hosting gallery exhibitions and events, which could then inspire the greater community.

With this purpose in mind, we shifted into the visualization stage of our design process. We put together a mood board, pulling inspiration from the branding of other creative institutions such as museums, galleries, and colleges. Next, we started sketching different iterations of the mark for the Kennedy Art Center. After experimenting with various concepts, we presented the client with three versions of the mark. Following their decision between the three, we crafted a set of brand guidelines, including different versions of the new Kennedy Art Center logo for use in different contexts.

Results.

The final design for the Kennedy Art Center’s visual identity encompasses the brand’s energy, recalls the family legacy, and invites the community to join in the business’s creative work. The chosen “Strokes” design features a warm color palette, with an invigorating orange at its center. The custom typeface our team created, Kennedy Neue, adds to this sense of vibrancy, leaving a unique mark on the world and inspiring guests to do the same.

The “Strokes” design emphasizes the Kennedy family’s artistic heritage through the incorporation of arts-inspired design elements. Brushstrokes, drawn lines, and charcoal smears evoke the visual arts, while the lines of staff paper call to mind the world of music, and the annotations used to mark stressed and unstressed syllables recall the process of composing poetry.

Finally, this design embraces the community, as the marks left by past generations are joined by those of the next. With the variety of artistic forms included in the visual identity, the brand is able to pull in the visions of new artists whose work the Kennedy Art Center highlights. The custom typeface further supports this aspect of the mission by helping to showcase the artists’ names at exhibitions.

This project prompted our team to be inventive as we sought to create a visual brand identity that would reflect the mission of the Kennedy Art Center, while celebrating both the heritage of the Kennedys and the future of the arts in Grant County. The finalized brand has helped to shape the presence of the Kennedy Art Center, both at its physical location and on its online channels.