William Morris had a profound affect on Victorian Britain. Aligned with the Arts and Crafts Movement, he was a polymath whose work encompassed design, craft, the written word and the socialist movement. A century on, Morris continues to be an influential figure - a feat which is in no small part down to the work of The William Morris Society. Set up in 1955, the society’s goal is to preserve Morris’s memory by introducing his ideas on creative work, leisure, conservation and politics to new generations.
To coincide with its 50th Anniversary, Pentagram has created a new identity for The William Morris Society. The rebrand unifies the society’s communications, which had previously included four separate logos with eleven variations.
The new identity introduces one logo that is made up of a bird emblem and the society’s name. The emblem is hand-drawn and derived from Morris’s Bird print which is owned by the society. This brings Morris’s work into all communications, complementing the society’s organisational goal.
The emblem is particularly fitting for the society’s outputs, which include journals and newsletters. It evokes the visual language of the publisher’s colophon and is an expression of Morris’s artistic and literary sensibility.
The colour palette places similar importance on Morris’s work and is inspired by his illuminated manuscripts. Alongside the primary colours of red and black, secondary colours have been drawn from his Jasmine print, which is also part of the society’s archive.
