The J. Paul Getty Trust has a flexible new logo that ties its extensive art collections and various programs into a single yet versatile identity.
The trust, founded in 1953, today runs the Getty Center and Getty Villa art museums in Los Angeles, as well as a foundation, conservation institute, and research institute. The new logo brings all the entities together as a unified brand.
“We needed a visual identity that was uniquely Getty and distinct enough to unify how we show up globally,” Yasmine Vatere, assistant director of brand management and marketing, said in a statement.
Famed designer Saul Bass created the outgoing logo for the opening of the Getty Center in 1997. The square mark houses the word Getty spelled out in oversize letters arranged in a manner that appears scattered but intentional. No letter is shown in its entirety. The Getty calls that logo “iconic,” but felt it had grown out of it, and sought out the agency Fred & Farid New York to come up with a refresh.
The new logo constructs the letter G from four shapes arranged into a square to symbolize the Getty’s four programs. Fred & Farid creative chair Farid Mokart told Fast Company the mark was inspired by the materiality of the travertine blocks at the Getty Center. He says his team wanted a mark that felt like it was built with weight and intention—and it helpfully calls back to Bass’s square logo.
“This system gives Getty one clear, ownable expression in support of the work we do around the world,” Vatere said.
The G also acts as a frame for the Getty’s collection. In early applications of the mark, artwork and sculptures peek in and over its shapes, adding a contemporary element to visuals that might otherwise read as old and dry to some audiences. The new color palette is led by Getty’s signature blue with bright accent hues drawn from the Getty’s architecture, artworks, and gardens.
The challenge in designing a single mark for such a broad application was finding the right level of abstraction so it could feel genuinely Getty but still flexible to appear across all four programs, the agency said. That’s because they reach different audiences. The museums, for example, offer free admission to the public, and thus have different communications and design needs than the conservation institute, which serves professionals, or the research institute, which is geared to students and educators.
The Getty’s new tagline to go with the rebrand is “All for Art,” and the new logo was designed for a wide breadth of expression. It’s a mark that’s made to be rearranged, filled with other images, and open by design.