A visual rebranding for one of Florence’s oldest museumsBranding, Exhibition Design Spring 2025
Overseen by Sivlia Agozzino Introduction
The Museo Galileo is a historical museum in Florence dedicated to its namesake, Galileo Galilei, housing a large collection of scientific instruments from the Medici and Lorraine dynasties. The museum includes instruments used by Galileo himself and showcases his pivotal role in astronomy alongside the scientific advancements made by Tuscans and Italians throughout the 18th-19th centuries.
The museum's current logo—built around one of Galileo's star and planet sketches forming the letter g— is a largely underdeveloped identity, appearing only on select books and tickets. This rebrand introduces a flexible identity system that expands on that foundation, drawing from the themes and instruments that define the collection. Process
Research into the museum began with an exploration of Galileo's life and the museum's history, before moving on to an on-site visit. The visit revealed much about the collection's character, particularly the recurring geometry of triangles and circles throughout the instruments. Given the richness of the artifacts, extensive photography and research were essential to grounding the identity system in something authentic.
The on-site visit provided significant direction for the logo and identity system. Two instruments in particular, the compass and the astrolabe, stood out for their geometric forms and the relationship between triangles and circles embedded in their design. Many concepts were then explored, considering how the geometry of these instruments could inform both the logo and the broader system, before arriving at the final iteration. The identity is defined by the geometry embedded in the instruments
The focus narrowed to what the system needed most: the instruments and their geometry as the structural logic of the identity. Feedback from earlier directions helped clarify what wasn't working, allowing the original vision to come forward without attachment to earlier concepts.
The main logo is composed of 8 compasses, symmetrical to one another, forming a complete circle which mimics the act of a compass drawing one. The broader objective was not simply to build an identity system from these elements, but to use them to reinforce the themes of the museum itself. Symmetry across both form and type serves as a reminder of the mathematical precision central to these instruments and the discoveries made with them.
The logomark's geometric simplicity made it highly adaptable across a range of collateral: posters, tickets, tote bags, and beyond. Because the system is built from circles and triangles rather than illustrative or representational forms, it scales and transforms cleanly across contexts without losing its character. The identity flexes between dense and minimal always held together by the same underlying geometry.