Contemporary Art Society rebrand by Thomas Manss

The Contemporary Art Society launches a refreshed identity by Thomas Manss & Company today at its Artfutures exhibition in London

The Contemporary Art Society launches a refreshed identity by Thomas Manss & Company today at its Artfutures exhibition in London.


Thomas Manss & Company was appointed to the project less than six months ago, without a pitch. ‘The Contemporary Art Society approached us on the strength of our previous work within the arts sector. What we were doing was the kind of graphic design that would best express what the organisation wanted to do,’ claims consultancy founder Thomas Manss.


The identity is part of an ongoing project to give a more coherent representation of the work undertaken by the charity in the commissioning, acquisition and collection of contemporary art. The first stage of the project is the application of the new logo to the charity’s membership packs.


Manss developed a deliberately pared-down identity, which uses a monochrome palette and clear, legible font. The membership packs, targeted at different audiences, use a number of different formats. ‘It’s an unusual collection of literature that targets distinct groups,’ he says.


‘The brief was to create an identity that could talk to several audiences at once,’ says Stephanie Post, head of marketing and membership at the CAS. ‘We’re a complex organisation, working with so many different public bodies, as well as corporations and private collectors. The identity had to work across the various strands.’


Over the coming months, the identity will be applied to the charity’s promotional literature, catalogues, membership cards, newsletters and website (www.contempart.org.uk). Thomas Manss & Company will continue to work on both the print and Web applications.


The CAS has about 1000 members and is hoping to increase this figure. It will begin selling its refreshed membership pack today at Artfutures. The selling exhibition, running until 14 March at the Bloomberg Space, will showcase almost 1000 works by more than 130 artists, working in a variety of media.

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