Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design

Find your path at MIAD

Brand Identity, Print Design, UX, Visual Design

where passion finds purpose

The Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD), a private art college in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, offers a transformative educational experience for aspiring creatives to define their identity.

MIAD prepares students to take on the professional world with a voice and vision that’s uniquely their own, ultimately finding a path to embark on in their creative life.

We brought the college's vibrant energy and community-centric essence to life by evolving its current brand system, designing a modern and memorable admissions catalog, and updating its website for consistency.

We started by evolving the current MIAD brand to be more flexible, consistent, and inspiring. This new system allowed us to unify all touchpoints in a prospective student’s journey.

Building on a legacy

MIAD’s square logo, originally designed by Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv, visually communicates MIAD's commitment to artistic excellence, student enrichment, and community outreach. It is the most immediately recognizable symbol of the college.

Drawing inspiration from the iconic logo, we used a square as the foundation for the MIAD brand, building all layout, composition, and graphic treatments around the shape.

Communicating with color

Starting with MIAD’s primary color palette, pulled from the logo, we expanded the palette to bring added flexibility and vibrancy to the system. The new palette is derived from the color wheel, a fundamental tool for every artist and designer.

The primary palette is still used for core brand elements to establish brand recognition. In support, the expansive full palette helps communicate the joy and vibrancy of the MIAD community.

To represent each student’s unique path at MIAD, we created graphic pathways by recording the movement of a square across the square grid.

Utilizing the evolved brand system, we created a new admissions catalog for prospective students that is modern and memorable. We used the concept of “play enhancing creativity” as our jumping-off point, taking inspiration from the creative process and community.

The MIAD brand story continues on the website, bridging the the gap between the print and digital experience. 

We built a new, interactive brand guide that brings everything together in a clear, simple format, making it easy to maintain consistency as the brand evolves.

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