Donatello. Inventor of the Renaissance at Gemäldegalerie
The Donatello retrospective shown at Staatliche Museen zu Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie features branding and visual identity led by two design studios based in Berlin: Polyform and Studio Edgar Kandratian. The studios chose Ogg Display for the show’s typography and messaging. The scale of the project is impressive, and includes the exhibition’s advertising campaign, print materials, and gallery text.
Donatello was a prominent figure in the Italian Renaissance. Ogg’s “classical” and refined aesthetic made it quite fitting for the exhibition of the sculptor. The studios’ use of Ogg, from all-caps to all-lowercase to the forward-rolling of the O in the titling, capture the movement and gestures of the typeface, too. Ogg was inspired by its namesake lettering artist’s book jacket designs, and the typeface’s timeless elegance has already made it a contemporary classic.
“Close-ups of the main motifs bring the great emotional power of the works into focus,” says Polyform’s Katrin Middel. “The typography is inspired by ancient and renaissance fonts. A subtle intervention in the typography adapts the orientation of the letters to the viewing directions of the sculptures.”
The physical exhibition closed doors, but you can still take a virtual tour (in German).
