A visual identity for Drawn From Nature for the National Gallery

In early 2020, M‑CO completed the identity design for the National Gallery of Ireland exhibition Drawn from Nature. Irish Botanical Art. The branding project included creating an identity for the exhibition and designing print and digital outputs from large‑scale signage to digital social media content.

Drawn from Nature celebrated three centuries of Irish botanical art. It included drawings, watercolours, prints and illustrated publications dating from the 1700s to modern times. The backgrounds, motivations and methods of the artists exhibited are diverse, yet all share a desire to observe and record, and to advance our knowledge of the natural world by these means.

We approached this project with a clean and modern design aesthetic, aiming to link the past and present to reflect the timeline of work being showcased. Building on a concept born from the scientific nature of botanical illustrations, we developed a flexible identity which allowed for different botanical artworks to form the leading image across the range of digital and print visuals produced.