Seal Aquarium brand identity

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seal aquarium brand identity

The Marine Station of the University of Gdańsk’s Institute of Oceanography is located at the end of the Hel Peninsula in Northern Poland. Seal Aquarium operates as part of this station, and its main task is to restore and protect the colony of grey seals in the sourthern Baltic Sea.

The Seal Aquarium Brand Identity was my graduation project on the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. In the past I visited this place many times and was fascinated how Seal Aquarium draws record numbers of tourists to see seal feeding and a seal training show. But the place is far from a typical aquarium. The main task of the Station is to save wounded and sick seals, and after they recover, release them into the sea. Moreover the Seal Aquarium puts a lot of effort into educating visitors about seals.

Present Seal Aquarium image is chaotic, without specified logo or brand identity. After deep research and analysis I defined a new visual strategy. At the one hand Seal Aquarium is a kind and subtle place, but on the other it represents professional and serious scientific station. I designed brand which connects this two characteristic features.

Seal Aquarium logo is made up of two components: the Grey Seal drawing and the word “Fokarium” (Seal Aquarium in polish). Subtle changes in typography (short “k” and lack of dot on the “i” letter) gives the impression of seal lying on the word “fokarium”. The idea of logo was to show how Seal Aquarium supports seals. Important part of logo is a tagline “wspieramy bałtyckie foki” (“we support Batlic seals”) which was written serif font, characteristic for serious institutions.

Educating visitors about seal life is the second most important goal for Seal Aquarium. Therefore I analyzed all educational materials provided by the Station and divided them into 6 areas: seal in aquarium, seal in Baltic Sea, seal activities, seal and threats, seal and human, seal and biology. For each I designed a pictogram always based on seal drawing, and for each I matched individual color. Seal Aquarium offers a lot of promotional materials in its shop. I redesigned them making them also a “knowledge carriers”.