Lewis Latimer House: Redefining a museum
Client Project with SVA Masters in Branding Honors Program
The Challenge
To evolve the 'Lewis Latimer House Museum' brand from a standard house museum model to position the brand for long-term growth. To further strengthen its impact and better serve the next generation of underrepresented thinkers.
My Role
Strategist & Designer: Research, Stakeholder Facilitation, Positioning, Creative Briefing, Visual Identity Design (Team: Jackson Dunn, Vidan Ristovic, Chanel Gilcrease, Olivia Qian, Marisa Goldberg)
The Approach
1. Brand Audit 2. Cultural Audit 3. Positioning 4. Brand Architecture 5. Verbal Identity 6. Visual Identity & Web Design
Intended Impact
To increase the brand's awareness and relevance to a larger audience and increase engagement and interaction within the space.
Accolades
Background
Located in Flushing, Queens, the Lewis Latimer House Museum honors the life of Lewis Howard Latimer, a self-taught polymath who helped develop major 19th-century inventions, including Edison’s incandescent light bulb.
For years, the brand honored Latimer’s life as the inspiration for a noble mission: helping close the gap in equitable patenting for minority innovators. However, this limited its relevance among a broader audience.
Discovery
Despite his circumstances, Latimer demonstrated immense bravery and courage - qualities that will always be needed in society, no matter how much progress has been made socially or technologically.
Lewis Latimer’s most powerful gift wasn’t his inventions; it was his fearless approach to life and learning.
The Lewis Latimer Mindset
This offered a powerful new anchor to evolve the brand and its operational model.
Solution
To reposition the brand from a static museum to a dynamic "Open House" that creates a space where Latimer’s mindset comes to life.
The House empowers underrepresented thinkers by providing a thinking playground to nurture their own Lewis Latimer Mindset. A dynamic space of exploration, experimentation, and collaboration.
In turn, the House expands its lens beyond equitable patenting, granting it the flexibility to increase its impact through active engagement.
Visual Expression
The visual identity reflects Latimer’s kaleidoscopic philosophy, embodying a fluid and ever-evolving perspective that invites people to see, think, and engage in new and unexpected ways.
Visual Identity System
The logo is a visual representation of Latimer’s profound belief in fostering collaborative environments to generate innovation. Using kaleidoscopic fragments to form the L, a geometric sans-serif, and a Victorian-esque serif inspired by the home, the logo connects seemingly disparate elements to create a cohesive unit.
