Reopening in 2023 with a new OMA-designed addition, Albright-Knox Art Gallery needed a new identity to go along with their new name — Buffalo AKG Art Museum.

While the length and intermingled acronym both posed a challenge, we decided to embrace them in a typographically-driven approach that uses unconventional, alternate-universe forms for the A, K, and G in a custom typeface based on Neuzeit and similar classic grotesques. As AKG has a very robust and active editorial marketing team, these alternate forms could then be used throughout communications wherever the letters appeared, and ingrain the identity in the messaging itself.

With enthusiasm for the direction, we collaborated with Christian Schwartz of Commercial Type to then create a custom, from-scratch AKG Sans that updated the Neuzeit forms for consistency with the alternates and a more contemporary feel.

The main logotype is always paired with an AKG mark with variable punctuation attached, adding a playful element that can be used in context to denote anything from curiosity (“AKG?”) to their social media presence (“#AKG”) to bilingual programming (“¡AKG!”).