Bristol Aerospace Centre celebrates the aviation industry in new brand identity ahead of museum opening in 2017
Aviation heritage museum Bristol Aerospace Centre, due to open spring 2017, has partnered with design consultancy Elmwood to create its identity system set to feature online and on all museum collateral including stationary, presentation templates, event publicity and fundraising literature.
The Bristol Aero Collection Trust plan for the Bristol Aerospace Centre is for it to showcase the aerospace heritage of Filton, where aircraft production began in 1910, and to provide a permeant home for the Concorde 2016.
The Bristol Aero Collection Trust engaged Elmwood to create an identity to support the fundraising stage and project development of the £14m museum. Elmwood developed the strapline ‘Where imagination takes flight’ which has been incorporated to the new design.
The brand identity has been designed to be modern but also have longevity and as a celebration of the start of the aviation journey. As the first airplane started as a sketch, the first engine was a paper drawing and the Concorde once a scribble on a page, Elmwood’s use of the paper plane in the logo aims to highlight the possibilities and potential of such ideas.
The colour palate – red, white and blue – has been chosen as a nod to the transatlantic nature of the museum, connecting the UK, France and America.
Iain Gray CBE, chief executive of the Technology Strategy Board and chairman of the Bristol Aero Collection Trust, said the branding “truly captures our vision”. He added: “The strong but simple logo with the paper plane and use of patriotic colours perfectly embodies how the Centre will inspire future generations, using examples of great technical innovation, such as Concorde and space flight.”
Elmwood creative director, David Jenkinson, added: “It was really exciting to work with the Bristol Aero Collection Trust in bringing to life their new development. The most important thing for us in this project was to create an identity that encapsulated and celebrated Filton’s rich aerospace heritage. For us, seeing a vision slowly come to life is stimulating. We are proud to be a part of preserving aviation history in the UK and excited to see the museum in 2017.”
To this day Filton companies remain at the forefront of the aerospace industries.