The Grand Egyptian Museum hosts the most prominent collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts, dating back to various historical epochs. Developing a visual identity posed a great challenge; to represent the gravitas of the history while maintaining a modern, fresh look. The research and exploration process led to a rich identity inspired by the basic shapes of ancient Egyptian alphabets hieroglyphs. I incorporated hieroglyphs in the logotype and the signage system to invoke the ancient Egyptian culture and style. The viewer familiarizes with hieroglyphs without feeling foreign.
While maintaining the use of ancient Egyptian design aesthetics as an inspiration, a logo was created using five hieroglyphs that read Egypt. They were combined together to create this geometrical yet simple look and feel. The elongated rectangular shape is inspired by the cartouche; a frame indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. Black is the primary color because ancient Egyptians referred to the banks of the Nile as the Black Land. The secondary colors were inspired by colorful ancient Egyptian jewelry designs. Lastly, an experimental signage system was developed.
