TOKY’s work rebranding the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis began with the launch of a more memorable brand identity and progressed to new messaging and signage, completely revamped print collateral, an overhaul of the website, and a full-featured mobile app.

With a more vibrant look and a clearer, stronger voice, the museum’s future has never looked brighter. What we delivered:

A Better Brand Name
TOKY rebranded the museum by the acronym CAM — it’s easier to say and remember, and more useful for attracting audiences.

A New Lively Personality
TOKY developed a completely new graphic language and external personality for CAM, introduced complementary new fonts, and united print, advertising, Web, and social media strategies. The new CAM uses color unapologetically, conveying the pop and electricity of contemporary art.

New Logo Treatments
The new rhomboid-shaped CAM logo is a nod to the museum’s constant movement and energy (the main galleries rotate every three months, and biweekly mini-shows cycle through the energetic Front Room). Our new logo for the full name is now a more readable, more usable stack of words, set left and right off of a common vertical axis.

A More Inviting Entrance
Previously, the only outdoor signage encouraging visitors to stop in CAM was the nearly indifferent gray-on-gray logo treatment on the building’s side. TOKY designed new outdoor and indoor signage that extends a welcome.

A Full Site Relaunch
TOKY built a brand new camstl.org using our own CMS. The site, which can easily be updated and managed by CAM staff, has a fresh, vibrant look with clean navigation; a deep, dynamically loading Exhibitions Archive; and smart social media integration.

Smartphone App
Our next digital extension of the CAM brand: a beautiful, intuitive app packed with features. TOKY’s use of geo-location means that the app serves up the ideal content for users whether they’re inside the galleries or elsewhere. Among the app’s offerings: a video tour of the building by its architect, Brad Cloepfil; an audio history of the museum by Director Paul Ha; introductions to specific artworks on view from CAM curators; and more. With the November 2011 release of the app, CAM took another leap ahead of its local, regional, and national peers, becoming one of just a handful of museums to offer a fully customized app.

Books, Too
CAM has entrusted TOKY not only with crafting a brand new identity, but also with designing substantial exhibition books, beautiful volumes ready to stand on shelves for decades to come. These include Richard Aldrich and the 19th Century French Painting; Sean Landers: 1990-1995; and Stephen Prina: Concerto for Modern, Movie, and Pop Music for Ten Instruments and Voice.

“The entire team at TOKY did a fantastic job rolling out our rebranding campaign. Whether it was a central communications piece, like our website, or something that would appear to be more minor, like our new line of T-shirts, TOKY created a comprehensive strategy and delivered ideas that brought attention to our young institution and helped the public better understand us.”

Paul Ha, CAM Executive Director, 2002 – 2011