Founded in 1971, the MIT Museum has the mission to make the innovation and research of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology available to all by presenting the best of science, technology, engineering, arts and math. The museum reopened in October 2022 in a new expanded 56,000 square foot location at 314 Main Street in Cambridge with architecture by Höweler + Yoon, exhibition design by Wendy Evans Joseph, and a new brand identity by Pentagram.
The MIT Museum turns MIT inside out, inviting visitors to take part in ongoing research and explore how science and technology will help shape the future. The identity captures this sense of connection, creativity and invention with an articulated logo that is modular and infinitely adaptable.
The Ms in the logotype meet and intersect to form a right angle that can be reconfigured for different modes of expression. The logo can be used as a framing device for images and typography, or used to create other word pairs linking up at the letter M. A monogram version puts one of the double Ms on its side.
The identity is part of an ongoing initiative to align the aesthetic of MIT’s various entities with the rich modernist tradition of the MIT graphics originally created by MIT’s Office of Design Services, including Muriel Cooper, Jacqueline Casey, Ralph Coburn, Dietmar Winkler and others. Pentagram previously updated the identity of the MIT Media Lab, as well as MIT Libraries, MIT Technology Review and the MIT Alumni Association, among others.
At the Museum, the new identity extends to a comprehensive system of signage and wayfinding, exhibition graphics for the new galleries, promotional materials, and more.
