The Olympic Museum dropped 'the' and rebuilt its identity for a global online audience

The Olympic Museum in Lausanne holds the world's largest collection of Olympic artefacts — over 100,000 pieces. Its rebrand needed to work for tourists and locals in multilingual Switzerland and for a global online audience, while positioning the museum as a cultural institution as much as a sporting one, and staying in tune with the Olympic identity refreshed in 2022 by Hulse & Durrell and the IOC.

Adopt the IOC's Olympic Headline typeface, then differentiate with a modified 'M' that picks up the pillar motif of the museum's tweaked logo.

Studio Blackburn selected a handful of elements for the core brand and made considered additions: the museum dropped 'the' from its name and wordmark; the Olympic colours provide the foundations; Olympic Headline typeface runs across the identity including the wordmark, its 'pillar-like quality' echoing the modestly tweaked logo, and a modified 'M' picks up the pillar motif for differentiation. The identity spans museum displays, wayfinding, online touchpoints and promotional posters designed to keep interest in the permanent collection between temporary shows.

A versatile, digital-ready identity rolled out from wayfinding to online in 2024, paired with a major effort to expand the museum's online reach so anyone, anywhere can interact with the artefacts and Olympism. The source reports no visitor or traffic figures.

The Olympic Museum in Lausanne cares for the largest collection of Olympic artefacts in the world — more than 100,000 pieces — but most of the world will never walk through its door. That tension set the brief Studio Blackburn took on: a digital-ready identity robust enough to travel, with enough personality to cut through online noise, positioning the museum as a cultural institution as much as a sporting one.

The constraints were double. Locally, the brand communicates in multiple languages; globally, it had to stay in tune with the Olympic identity that Hulse & Durrell and the IOC refreshed in 2022. 'A key ask was that we align with the Olympic brand as a whole,' explains Studio Blackburn creative director Mark Jones, who describes carefully selecting a handful of core elements and making considered additions so the museum 'has its own look and feel whilst not being a random accessory to the bigger picture'.

The system starts with the Olympic colours, then differentiates through type: Olympic Headline runs across the identity, including a wordmark that, like the museum's name, has dropped 'the'. The typeface's 'pillar-like quality' echoes the modestly tweaked logo, and a modified 'M' picks up the pillar motif as the museum's own signature. The identity now reaches from museum displays and wayfinding to online touchpoints and posters that keep the permanent collection alive between temporary exhibitions.

A museum that lives or dies by digital reach needed an identity designed for screens and global scale, not just Lausanne walls.

Using the IOC's own typeface tethered the museum to the masterbrand's equity without diluting it.

The pillar 'M' gives the museum one ownable gesture inside a system it didn't control.

Dropping 'the' tightened the wordmark for avatars, apps and multilingual lockups.

Sub-brands of giant masterbrands don't have to shout for independence: disciplined adoption of the parent's system, plus one signature twist, buys both trust and distinctiveness.

The identity rolled out across displays, wayfinding, online touchpoints and promotional posters in 2024, alongside a major expansion of the museum's online presence. The source article reports no visitor or traffic figures.