Centro Culturale di Milano (CMC) had a corporate identity as old as the typeset of its logo in a classical font, its image was therefore eradicated in the past and the Milanese institution needed to improve its relevance as well as spreading its cultural initiatives more efficiently and globally. The environment tended to lean exclusively towards the elite and it was necessary to democratise the member base, involving all the population. The business needs therefore revolved around the requirement of a brand strategy that communicated its uniqueness and presented the Centre’s various promotions in a more engaging fashion, in tune with an evolving society.
The project was concentrated on modernising the visual identity. Having determined through research that the ideal positioning required was that of openness, the idea came of representing the spreading of knowledge and culture through graphics and a new logo. Concentrating on using the letter C as the epicentre of its opening up to a new world was the key with which the concept could be translated visually. The semi encapsulated sides of the letter C represent authoritativeness and imbue credibility. The information, emanating from the central point is free to expand in concentric circles like ripples in a pond, representing CMC’s many cultural facets and refining the spreading of its message.
The visual identity project was extended also to all the communication instruments, using a photographic language to add dynamism, that adapted chromatically to the various contexts, making them not only more attractive but easier to read and furthermore understandable. User needs fundamental to bringing culture closer to younger people and permitting a constructive dialogue with an ever-growing audience.
CMC is a non profit cultural foundation initiated in 1981 in a small room above the San Carlo Library with just one table, four chairs and a telephone. Its new location near Milan’s Duomo cathedral now vaunts a large exhibition room and two halls where the promotion of conferences, courses, events and exhibitions take place. CMC is a landmark in the world of cultural dissemination.
