Creating an identity for a 21st century contemporary art institution

Kunsthall Stavanger is a non-collecting art institution based in Stavanger, Norway.

Founded in 2012, the Kunsthall occupies a beautiful 90 year old building space formerly occupied by a local art society. Prior to the renovation of the exhibition space, founder and chief curator Hanne Mugaas approached Familiar to create a website and visual identity that could grow with the evolving institution.

We crafted an identity and branding system bold enough to stand out and versatile enough to build on for years to come. We debuted that brand and launched the website in the spring of 2013 before Kunsthall Stavanger opened its doors that fall. Today we continue to create print collateral, as well as enhance Kunsthall Stavanger’s website with interactive features.

Fluid and playful animation is a critical to establishing the spirit of Kunsthall Stavanger online. The site is also multi-lingual: defaulting to either Norwegian or English depending on the visitor's browser settings, and Kunsthall staff are able to easily enter content for either language or both languages for all content on the site.

As a part of our ongoing relationship with the kunsthall, we continue to generate a variety of design collateral, from physical banners and posters that are featured on the building, to brochures, printed invitations, membership collateral and magazine ads.

In 2015, a new Kids section was designed and developed to help highlight child-friendly and child-specific programming at the Kunsthall. This new section included an interactive element, allowing visitors to the site to color in an illustration of the building itself. That section displays saved drawings to new visitors.