V&A East seeks consultancy to design its brand identity

The V&A East has launched a tender valued between £50,000 to £100,000 for the design of its brand identity.

The selected design team will be tasked with developing physical and digital consumer-facing brand touchpoints for both V&A East sites – V&A East Storehouse (opening at Here East in 2024) and V&A East Museum (opening on the Stratford Waterfront in 2025). This includes tone of voice and visual and non-visual brand guidelines.

Building on existing V&A East characteristics, the chosen consultancy will aim to create a coherent, adaptable and functional identity for the venue.

A key focus of the project will be to “make the arts accessible to all” through a digital-first branding approach, says V&A. Prospective partners are also required to outline how they would contribute towards equity, diversity, inclusion and sustainability.

The brief details that the branding must be “super-serving [of] a Gen-Z audience” (young people aged 16-24) and help to inspire “the next generation of creatives”. Although V&A requires the branding to be child friendly, it does not need to be “child-focussed”.

The programme and branding must also cater for local residents of all ages, “particularly those who don’t currently see museums as spaces for them”, according to the tender. School and college groups are another audience on which the branding will focus. V&A hopes to welcome children of all ages through its creative programmes, while workshops, resources and projects will focus on creative sector opportunity for children aged 14+.

Plans for V&A East were first revealed in June 2021 with the aim of prioritising local residents and creating “relaxed and inclusive spaces”, according to the museum’s director Gus Casely-Hayford.

V&A will hold an open Q&A session for potential bidders via Microsoft Teams on Thursday 25th August at 2:30pm, where project leaders will aim to respond to any queries.

The application deadline is 6 September 2022 at 10am. Tender proposals must be no more than 16 pages/slides. The contract is due to last four months, starting from 3 October this year.

Candidates who make it through to the next stage of the process can expect to be notified on 8 September, with interviews taking place in the following week. Find out more information and apply here.