There is a particular quiet confidence that runs through much of Canadian design. It tends to favour continuity over spectacle, clarity over flourish, and systems that can carry meaning forward rather than declare it all at once. Growing up and training as a designer in Canada, I learned early that identity work — especially for cultural institutions — is less about reinvention than it is about stewardship. You are not there to overwrite history, but to help it speak more clearly in the present.
That sensibility feels deeply embedded in Bruce Mau Design’s new identity for the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, a rebrand that arrives not as a dramatic departure, but as a thoughtful recalibration of how one of Canada’s most significant art institutions presents itself to the public today. Developed in close collaboration with the McMichael team, the new identity and website reposition the gallery as a contemporary, living destination for Canadian art; one that honours its roots while acknowledging how the definition of “Canadian art” has expanded, diversified, and evolved.
For decades, the McMichael has been closely associated with the Group of Seven, Emily Carr, and Norval Morrisseau; names that carry enormous cultural weight. Yet, as Executive Director and Chief Curator Sarah Milroy notes, the institution itself has undergone a significant transformation. Its exhibitions now foreground contemporary voices, centuries of Indigenous artistic practice, and new scholarship that challenges narrow or outdated narratives of national identity. Public perception, however, had not fully kept pace with that shift. The rebrand, Milroy explains, is a visual and verbal articulation of who the McMichael has already become: vibrant, inquisitive, welcoming, and committed to championing Canadian art in all its forms.
Rather than treating branding as a surface-level refresh, Bruce Mau Design approached the project as a system, one capable of holding history and change in tension. The resulting identity includes a redrawn heritage logo, a modern typographic suite, a vibrant colour palette, and integrated motion and campaign applications that extend across exhibitions, marketing materials, and the redesigned website. Together, these elements create a framework that feels both grounded and alive, balancing institutional credibility with openness and curiosity.
One of the most telling decisions was the careful redrawing of the McMichael’s existing logo. Rather than replacing it, the team preserved its handcrafted warmth, pairing it with a clean sans-serif typeface sourced from Canadian foundries. As Laura Stein, Chief Creative Officer at Bruce Mau Design, explains, the goal was not to erase history, but to articulate a larger brand idea, one that invites dialogue across eras and cultures while remaining balanced, approachable, and timeless. It’s a choice that reflects an understanding of trust: institutions like the McMichael don’t need to prove relevance through novelty, but through clarity of voice.
The system’s visual language reinforces that balance. A structured grid provides rigour, while bold uses of colour — often drawn directly from the artworks themselves — introduce moments of surprise. Typography with Indigenous syllabic support ensures the identity can communicate inclusively with diverse audiences, embedding accessibility and respect directly into the design rather than treating them as afterthoughts. The result is an identity that feels confident without being prescriptive, expressive without becoming ornamental.
What stands out most is the way the identity positions the McMichael not as a static repository of national heritage, but as an active site of dialogue. Through artist interviews and a pop-up studio with staff, the design team uncovered what truly defines the institution: its setting, its sense of welcome, and its ability to spark conversation. That insight became central to the brand idea, an “invitation to explore”, which carries through the system’s openness and flexibility.
From a broader perspective, the McMichael rebrand feels emblematic of where Canadian cultural branding is heading. It resists spectacle in favour of substance, and treats identity as an infrastructure for meaning rather than a vehicle for promotion. As a Canadian designer, it’s encouraging to see a national institution embrace a visual language that acknowledges complexity and one that makes space for many histories, many voices, and many futures without collapsing them into a single narrative.
In an era when museum branding often leans toward global sameness, Bruce Mau Design’s work for the McMichael offers a quieter, more enduring proposition: that a brand can be contemporary without being trendy, inclusive without being vague, and confident without being loud. It is a reminder that the most effective identities, particularly those tied to culture, are not designed to shout. They are designed to hold.
Images courtesy of Bruce Mao Design, and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection
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