Imperial War Museums
Blending IWM’s rich historical archives with modern menswear design to strike the perfect balance between nostalgia and contemporary craftsmanship.
Services
Art Direction
Brand Strategy
Identity
Photography
Introduction
Established in 1917, Imperial War Museums (IWM) has been diligently amassing collections of ephemera spanning the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
IWM wanted to form a menswear brand of credibility, leveraging its extensive archives in an innovative, contemporary manner.
The Brief
We were tasked with creating the future-thinking yet nostalgic menswear brand for IWM. With exclusive access to IWM’s collections, we needed to collaboratively craft the brand’s stories, collections, and products. The challenge lay in constructing a brand anchored in significant historical references, demanding a delicate balance between design solutions that respected the subject matter while remaining contemporary and pertinent.
The Output
Our comprehensive approach seamlessly integrated elements such as tone of voice, graphic identity, brand positioning, photography, product development, art direction, and digital design. The result, Realm & Empire, was a harmonious brand experience, where every facet contributed to the modern and relevant embodiment of the IWM archives.
To begin shaping the identity, we delved into the rich archival materials of the Imperial War Museums, unravelling the influences, ideas, and aspirations that would define the essence of Realm and Empire (R&E). Striking a delicate balance between nostalgia and modernity, R&E envisioned an identity that exuded freshness yet possessed a timeless and enduring quality.
Collaborating closely with IWM, we pinpointed pivotal brand attributes essential to R&E: authenticity, craftsmanship, honesty, provenance, and contemporaneity. Drawing inspiration from vintage and contemporary menswear collections, we meticulously examined influences and trends.
The resultant word mark and symbol are thoughtfully crafted, echoing the typography found in documents from the IWM archives. The logotype cleverly juxtaposes type styles, marrying the ornate Caslon ampersand with the authoritative sans serif Signal (designed by URW Type).
