Design Work Life: Cataloging Inspiration Daily

Oklahoma City stu­dio Ghost recently com­pleted this beau­ti­fully quiet and min­i­mal iden­tity for Marfa Contemporary, a Marfa, Texas-based exten­sion of Oklahoma City’s Arts Center. Here’s a bit of insight into their think­ing and process:

The rec­tan­gu­lar and square shapes of the mark are used to rein­force the inspir­ing work and efforts of min­i­mal­ist Donald Judd. The instal­la­tions were struc­tured and had a dis­tinc­tive shape. The typog­ra­phy and mark when com­bined cre­ate the illu­sion of a rec­tan­gle allow­ing the eye to fill in the miss­ing com­po­nents. The mark also ref­er­ences the ends of the Judd cubes which were often hol­low. Specialty print­ing tech­niques became a com­po­nent of the iden­tity and col­lat­eral involved, these include the use of metal­lic ink, soft-touch var­nishes, clear foil and deboss­ing. The site was devel­oped with an open source CMS for easy updates by gallery staff and fea­tures respon­sive design for opti­mal view­ing on any screen or smart device.