The Huntington, a century-old cultural and research institution known for its gardens struggled to communicate the breadth of what it actually is: a research library spanning ten centuries, an art museum with nearly 50,000 works, and botanical collections spread across 200 acres.

Base Design describes one of the central aims of the rebrand was to highlight The Huntington’s “360° nature as a place where nature and knowledge meet to enrich the human experience”. The foundation of the new brand positioning and resulting design work is the idea of a “hidden gem”, “treasured, layered, quietly extraordinary.”

A new ‘H’ monogram replaces an earlier, more ornate mark that relied heavily on botanical motifs. The redrawn version is deliberately pared back: two stylised pillars flanking a central, gem-like form. This abstraction supports the diversity of the institution, whilst unifying everything under a fresh and singular vision, represented by a distinct and icon symbol.

See more of this project here.