Uncommon Creative Studio’s pigeon-based identity for London Museum
Uncommon Creative Studio has unveiled the new design system for London Museum, as it prepares to open its new home next year.
The museum, first opened in 1976, is relocating to Smithfield Market as part of a £437 million project.
“It’s a huge undertaking, one of Europe’s most significant cultural projects, and we needed a brand that matched the scale and ambition of the museum’s future,” says Josh Green, London Museum’s head of design.
“The museum’s old identity was dated and limited our potential to engage new visitors,” he explains. “This new brand signals a major transformation, and has been developed to communicate the museum’s core purpose – to be a place where all London’s stories collide.”
Last summer, the museum’s new icon – a clay pigeon with a sparkly gold poo splat – was unveiled to a mixed reaction.
But for Uncommon founder Nils Leonard, the best design projects should divide opinion.
“We want to work on the most important and influential briefs, and there are two ways to approach those,” he says.
“One is, don’t fuck it up, glide through, try not to be noticed. The other is take it head-on, don’t worry about being divisive. And when the museum came to us, we released this was a chance to make an icon for London.
“This is really correct for the city. So whether people love it or hate it, I think anybody who really knows London will look at this and think, ‘Yeah, that’s about right’.”
Uncommon Creative Studio’s new identity for London Museum
Uncommon worked with brand consultancy firm Something More to host more than 100 hours of conversations with 500 Londoners. That was part of a wider effort to involve local people in the museum’s new chapter, with more than 100,000 feeding into the plans.
The brand idea that emerged from these discussions was “the grit and the glitter”, the cheek-by-jowl presence of London’s different personalities, offerings, and cultural currents. This felt like a good fit for the museum, whose collection ranges from the city’s storied history, to the fatbergs found in its sewers.
“You can’t divorce the two,” Leonard says. “You’re always 10 minutes from a shithole, or you’re 10 minutes from somewhere amazing. You’re always at risk, but also really well catered for.
“It’s the proximity of both those states that is the magic sauce under London.”
Uncommon Creative Studio’s new identity for London Museum
The pigeon emerged as the perfect icon around which to build the new identity. Not only did it encapsulate the grit and the glitter idea, it also reflected London Museum’s collection, and its mission.
There are an estimated three million pigeons in London – one for every three people – and the birds can be found on various artefacts, from Roman figurines to Victorian Valentine’s cards.
The symbol worked on a metaphorical level too. “The pigeon mirrors how we see the museum’s role as a chronicler of London’s stories, both big and small,” Green explains. “It’s the perfect icon for us.”
The team sculpted the pigeon out of clay taken from the Thames – “It sounds romantic, but it was actually disgusting,” Leonard laughs.
It’s used as a blank canvas, which can be tailored to different shows, moments or creative projects. Since it launched, there have been special Diwali, Easter and London Marathon pigeons. And the hoardings of the museum’s new site has just been wrapped in an artwork featuring 33 pigeons, designed by 33 different artists, to represent the city’s 32 boroughs and the City of London.
The Book of Boroughs pigeons, part of Uncommon Creative Studio’s new identity for London Museum
“The flexibility of the pigeon is invaluable to us,” Green says.
“Fundamentally, the pigeon allows us to express core elements of our communications with surface and texture, humour and playfulness, rather than pure photography or imagery. It’s a story-telling tool with limitless potential.”
The pigeon is paired with “the splat” – seven different variations inspired by real pigeon poo the team photographed around London. “The process is half the project,” Leonard says.
“We took endless photos of shit. But what you invest in the making – the level of depth, and craft and care – we believe comes through in the output.”
The collisions of the city’s different sides shapes the whole design system, what Leonard calls “an incredibly clean, considered aesthetic, with this sense of order and scratch.”
This is most noticeable in the typefaces. Museum Sans is an updated version of a 19th Century William Caslon font, while London Hand is a hand-drawn typeface designed to capture “the voice and signature of a Londoner.”
Uncommon Creative Studio’s London Hand type for London Museum
There is also a set of “graphic flourishes” – including doodles and squiggles – which will be used in the museum’s comms.
“We really loved the sans because it’s clean and bold and can do the functional work,” Leonard says. “But it felt too austere on its own, so we wanted something lighter, that could dance across the work.”
An attempt to create the new typeface by melding the real handwriting of thousands of Londoners was abandoned, because the results were too chaotic.
The secondary colour palette includes purple and green, as a further nod to pigeons and the colour of their feathers. But the main palette is black and white, although Leonard says the use of off-white is significant.
“We wanted something that was secretly premium,” he says. “We didn’t want that ridiculous Apple level of white – we wanted something that has that age and depth which London has.”
Uncommon Creative Studio’s new colour palette for London Museum
The new London Museum, designed by Stanton Williams, Asif Khan and Julian Harrap Architects will open in 2026. A further site, The Poultry Market, housing a learning centre and the collection stores, will open in 2028.
And everyone involved is comfortable if the new identity continues to attract strong opinions – especially because success will, in part, be measured by the work’s ability to attract new people through the museum’s doors.
“We want to spark conversation, so if people are talking about London Museum, then that in itself is a success,” Green says.
“This identity reflects a museum with broad appeal and unexpected energy, signalling that we are doing things differently and expanding our reach to become the world’s leading city museum.”
For Leonard, that’s why he thinks clients come to Uncommon.
“The people who want to work with us are those who think there is a chance to do something special, something long-lasting,” he says. “They don’t tend to come to us if they just want a different shade of blue.”
Uncommon Creative Studio’s new identity for London Museum
The different pigeon poo splats in Uncommon Creative Studio’s new identity for London Museum
Uncommon Creative Studio’s new identity for London Museum
Uncommon Creative Studio’s new identity for London Museum
Uncommon Creative Studio’s new identity for London Museum