The Museum of London has become the London Museum – and it has a new logo featuring a white clay pigeon and a golden poo splat to showcase “the grit and glitter” of the city.
The new name, website and logo come as the museum is relocating from London Wall to a new site in Smithfield.
“A good logo gets people talking. Our pigeon, cast from London clay, and its splat, rendered in glitter, prompts people to reconsider London,” said Sharon Ament, director of the London Museum.
To create its new brand, the London Museum engaged with 500 Londoners and tourists in focus groups, workshops and surveys.
“To translate London Museum’s brand framework into a visual identity we looked for the best of London’s creative talent. People who shared our passion for involving Londoners in the process,” said Andrew Marcus, the museum’s former chief communications and digital officer.
Via a London Museum blog post, animals have often been used to symbolise brands, organisations and places, like Lloyds Bank’s black horse and HMV’s dog.
“Now, London Museum will have a pigeon: an impartial and humble observer of London life,” the blog said.
“The pigeon and splat speak to a historic place full of dualities, a place where the grit and the glitter have existed side by side for millennia,” Ament said.
The grit and the glitter of London
“We share our city with others, including millions of animals. Pigeons are all over London and so are we.”
Josh Green, head of design at the London Museum, said the new brand “communicates something important about London”.
“Over time people will come to recognise the pigeon and splat as signifiers of London Museum and everything it stands for,” he said.
Currently, the London Museum is removing 10,000 objects from display at its old site. The two-year process started in in January 2023 after the closure of the museum’s Barbican home in December 2022.
The London Museum is due to open in 2026.
Images courtesy of London Museum
