Vedros Studio’s overhaul of the Academy Museum explores a dedication to cinema’s legacy and craft

International branding practice Vedros Studio have designed the interactive press kit for the launch of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, a unique museum experience devoted to cinema’s legacy, impact and craft – while refining the institution’s existing brand language in the process. Encapsulating the eclectic history and artistry of the industry, the press kit houses ten bespoke printed pieces denoting the collections, exhibitions and features of the museum, as well as the programmes it is due to host. Directly turning to the context of the publication, Vedros Studio opted for Grilli Type’s GT Cinetype as the hero typeface of the brand. 

“Cinetype has beautiful little micro-cut edges that evoke old marquee theatre titles,” Founder and Creative Director Meryl Vedros tells us, discussing the implementation of the typeface and the resulting subtle yet impactful celebration of cinema. “It works well small for film credits and large for big type moments,” she adds, “and that combo helped us achieve movement on the printed page,” leading the editorial design through means of elementary typographic shifts that embrace the notion of motion. “Cinetype Mono is an ode to the screenwriters that make stories happen,” Vedros notes, recalling the inclusion of the typeface’s monospaced counterpart, “the system utilises only three fonts, and there’s no need for more,” explaining their love for simplicity. “I get really excited about solving complex problems through a few typographic moves,” Vedros adds.

The press kit’s colour palette also implements Vedros Studio’s dedication to simplicity, courtesy of their chosen monochromatic hues. A decision that was made in objection to the multitude of colours included within the project when the studio took it on, turning towards the experience of cinema-going for inspiration instead. “For a world like cinema, there’s something so striking about being lost in a story in a pitch-black theatre,” Vedros explains, “the whole world disappears, and you can be totally taken away,” looking to encapsulate these feelings through the use of black and white. “The red carpet moment and the Academy Award reveal were also big inspiration points for us,” she explains, including two additional hues (gold and red) as spot colours throughout the press kit’s printed materials. “Gold is iconic and stands for the Oscar,” Vedros explains, “thus giving us reason to reserve it for special use scenarios in the print system such as donor send-outs.”

Discussing the challenges faced in coordinating a project of such scale, Vedros discloses that “the timing” was the biggest challenge. “We started this project with a simple task to design a museum guide and quickly pushed for a brand overhaul,” she explains, revealing the size of the workload the studio faced as a two-person team. “The five weeks leading up to the opening was the biggest hurdle,” Vedros continues, explaining that after the ‘brand overhaul’ was completed, they “had to concept and design the 150-page film calendar and 10-piece printed press kit,” all while pushing many other items into production. “It was a challenge, but it was the most rewarding moment for our studio and careers,” she reflects, concluding with the sentiment that “it brought us together like family, and that security in a creative space is so crucial to achieving good work in a seemingly impossible timeframe.”

Vedros Studio

Academy Museum