Four Dutch museums merged into Wereldmuseum with a handwritten WM and peeling type

Unite four institutions that collectively explore what it means to be human and our connections with the world around us into one large network, with a consolidated look and feel.

An almost handwritten WM mark plus motion graphics where the museums' names peel onto one another — the impression that there is always more to see.

The studio built a simple, futureproof, almost handwritten WM logo adaptable across offline and digital use. Motion design runs through the identity to reflect the diversity of the audience and exhibition subjects, maximised in the museum's digital out-of-home; layering of type, imagery and bright colours shows the four museums are one group, with names peeling onto one another, while static versions translate the layers into brushstrokes echoing the WM mark.

The four museums now present one brand across physical and digital touchpoints, with the motion elements carrying what the studio describes as a sense of joy and excitement into the network's digital OOH.

At the end of 2023, four museums in the Netherlands — Tropenmuseum, Africa Museum, Museum Volkenkunde and Wereldmuseum — came together under one name: Wereldmuseum. The idea was to unite the institutions into one large network as each site collectively explores what it means to be human and our connections with the world around us.

To create unity and a more consolidated look and feel, Wereldmuseum enlisted Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam's design studio. The aim was to 'elevate what [the museums] stand for and highlight the inherent desire in all of us to make our mark'. The first step was a logo that felt futureproof: a simple, almost handwritten WM mark, adaptable enough to be used easily both offline and digitally.

Motion is the identity's connective tissue — used to reflect the diversity of the audience and the different exhibition subject matters, and to convey joy and excitement, maximised in the museum's digital out-of-home. Layered type, imagery and bright colours make the four museums read as one group: different names peel onto one another to give 'the impression that there is always more to see', while static iterations communicate the same layering through brushstrokes that emulate the aesthetic of the WM logo.

The handwritten WM gives a four-museum network the warmth of a single hand, not the bureaucracy of a merger.

Peeling names turn the institutional change — several museums, one organisation — into the identity's signature move.

Motion-first design lets the network keep each site's distinct exhibitions while the system signals they belong together.

Static brushstroke translations mean the identity survives in print and signage without losing its layered logic.

A merged identity works when the system itself dramatises the merger — names peeling onto each other make 'one network, many places' visible at a glance.

The identity launched as the network opened under the single Wereldmuseum name, and now carries the merged institution's digital out-of-home and on-site communications.