Rebranding the
Dallas Public Library

Who is the Dallas Public Library?

Since 1901, the Dallas Public Library has served the nation’s ninth largest city with the latest technology for library use. With 29 branches in current operation, including the nation’s first children’s library located in a mall, its sole purpose is to serve the community at no cost. A diverse and ever-growing city, the institution takes great pride in upholding the rich culture of its citizens.

Logo Redesign

The original logo takes a minimalistic approach that upholds the sophistication of the library, but makes little reference to the city of Dallas. Drawing on the library’s background with the fine arts, line art in the style of abstract painter Piet Mondrian was designed to create a bookshelf while making slight reference to the city’s distinctive architecture. A new color palette of red, white, and blue pays direct tribute to the state pride of the city.

Typography

With a brandmark reliant on its line art, it was important to find a typeface that matched this in structure and weight. Along with its ties to the geometric Futura and Dutch designers Sjoerd Henrik de Roos and Dick Dooijes, Nobel from the Frere-Jones Type Foundry paired appropriately with the library’s new brandmark and direction.

Ad Campaign

With the growing presence of online services that require payment to use, it was important to the library to get the word out on its resources available to the community for free.

The library’s aforementioned history with the fine arts and current galleries served as inspiration for the imagery and use of line art as a framing element. The advertisements showcase three of the most popular services and can be viewed as a large poster on buildings within the city.

Click the images below for a full size view.

Social Media

To create an online presence and maintain a connection with the community, the Dallas Public Library uses social media accounts through popular platforms such as Instagram. Posts are used primarily to advertise current and upcoming events, materials, services, etc., and relay important information related to the library and city.

Visually, graphics remain in the color palette and/or within the theme of fine art, while photos of events may diverge from this. Captions feature #mydallaslibrary to encourage followers in sharing their own Dallas library related photos.

Website

A one stop location for everything related to the library, users are able to search the catalog, manage their account, explore free services, request assistance, and get more info on all events, exhibits, and the rich history of the institution.

Color blocks from the palette are used to break up sections of the site, similar to the layout in the brandmark, and line art is used again to frame other imagery.