Singapore-based Foreign Policy Design Group are in charge of this beautifully simple branding and wayfinding design for the Steven Holl-designed Sifang Art Museum in Nanjing, China. What I love about this project is that the graphic design draws its power basically from language. Oriental characters are typically very visual and graphic in nature, and the composition of Chinese and English create an elegant balance that stands strong on its own. The use of black to accentuate the branding material is also very elegant. What a lesson in simplicity.

Emanuele Cecini designed the identity and branding for new creative agency, Orange Hive, based in Frankfurt, Germany. The designs included the creation of a logo, print stationary, website layout and art direction of the branding photography. The logo finds a surprising and elegant balance of lines and empty spaces, the branding is straightforward and uses a limited number of elements and information, and the pop of color provided by the orange accents gives the ensemble a nice twist, preventing it from being boring instead of the classy minimalism it achieved. I’m especially fond of the signage application!

Graphic designer Alex Lin is the author of the signage and wayfinding of The Glass Pavilion, Japanese design firm SANAA‘s first building in the United States, housing the Toledo Museum of Arts’s entire glass collection. Since the near total of the pavilion’s interior and exterior walls are made of glass, the resulting visual noise for the visitor is extreme. In response to that, two basic rules were developed for all signage: if on the ground, it would be dark gray; everything else would be white. Respectful of SANAA’s well-known understated architecture, Lin’s signage and iconography is a work of subtlety, mindful of its surroundings, light and whimsical.