Art professionals, high school students team to create logos for Utica Children's Museum

The Utica Children’s Museum unveiled all six of its new logos at an event at the Family Resource Center.

Visitors also were offered a sneak peek into the venue, as it remains on schedule to open in the spring.

“The museum name will remain the same,” said ICAN Board President Meghan Fraser McGrogan. “The exhibits will be completely new – reflective of our community.”

Integrated Community Alternatives Network (ICAN) teamed up with local art professionals and youth to approach what Marketing Director Michelle Truitt calls a “60-year-old startup.”

The marketing team settled on a handful of interchangeable iterations for the new brand mark.

“Our new identity is made to evolve,” said Truitt. “The logo will adapt for new museum events, special exhibits, fundraisers, and sometimes, just for fun.”

Moving locations

The Utica Children’s Museum relocated to the Parkway District of Utica on the corner of Holland Avenue and Memorial Parkway. The new site showcases a 4,000-square-foot glass rotunda.

“This has been a dream of ours since 2017,” said ICAN CEO and Executive Director Steven Bulger. “To create the first children’s museum in the country based entirely on the scope of universal design.”

Universal Design (UD) is a process that empowers diverse populations by improving human performance, wellness, and social participation. This approach addresses barriers faced by people with disabilities and other populations the design process typically overlooks.

"Create Day"

Truitt has been a graphic designer for nearly three decades. When it came to this project, she said she wanted to try something new.

“It is a responsibility and privilege to reach back and bring young folks to rise with us,” she said. “It’s the ICAN way – creating opportunities for our youth to learn and shine.”

Creative direction, design compilation and implementation of the new brand system were completed in-house byICAN’s marketing team over five months.

In July they had a full-day workshop with all 12 creative contributors – six art professionals and six high school students – to create a library of illustrations for the new logo.

“We got to learn about how professionals stay inspired through the longevity of their careers,” said Lorelai Delmedico of Sauquoit Valley High School. “We also heard about college offerings to study the arts right in our own backyard.”

Students were matched up with two different professionals who shared their area of interest and spent time creating illustrations alongside them. Next, the ICAN marketing team scanned and digitally traced the drawings.

“If you look closely, stories start to unfold,” said McGrogan. “Each iteration has a heart, a nod to the project's theme: Love where you live.”

Other repeating symbols include roads, arrows, and items from the museum’s historic exhibits.

“The arrows remind us that moving forward is important– through the pandemic and trauma – so we can connect again and start a new chapter,” said Truitt. “The roads represent the journey that all our young visitors will forge in the coming years.”

A part to a whole

According to the marketing team, the new Children Museum’s logo factors into a larger – more regional rebranding.

“New exhibits and future programs will help us to retain young people in the Mohawk Valley,” explained McGrogan. “A region where opportunity, four seasons, and a thriving creative scene exists.”

Truitt noted that the arts are an important part of thriving communities.

“The arts work side-by-side with the extensive economic development our region is experiencing,” she said. “They also aid in positive mental health which can help heal and strengthen the collective.”

In February, site installations will begin. For more information on the Utica Children’s Museum and to see the updated brand design, visit uticachildrensmuseum.org.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Utica Children's Museum: Artists, students collaborate on new logos