Wednesday, January 9, 2019

The Field Museum Logos

I am not from Chicago, and as if that wasn't already obvious enough, it's about to become really clear.

I have visited the Field Museum just once, about 15 years ago. I liked it but don't remember what logo they were using at the time, but I guess it was probably the one on the left:



The one on the right was just launched in early 2018, and received good reviews relative to the old one. I had no idea what kind of logo the museum has ever used. I just know it's a beloved institution in the Chicago area.

All of that said, check out this logo, which I assume was in use in the early 20th century:


Now that's classic, though I can see why it would no longer be in use because it visually implies dusty and fuddy-duddy. But I like it.

I wonder how many logos the museum has had in its 125 years?

The thing I learned from this logo review is.... ta da!... that the museum is call the Field Museum because it's named after Marshall Field of the famous Chicago department store. I never realized that; I really hadn't thought about why it was called Field, but if anything, I would have thought it had something to do with research done in the field (you know, it's a natural history museum and that requires field work, right?). But nope, now I know. Marshall Field it is.

1 comment:

Michael Leddy said...

I’m pretty sure that when our kids were very young the logo was all caps. Definitely not the one on the left.

The newer one on the right makes me think of a Wordle. But what’s its point? Fie, Larry David?!