Sector: Museum, Non-Profit Company: Milwaukee Public Museum Discipline: Branding, Design Systems & Strategy, Environmental, Motion Graphics, Print Design, Advertising & Marketing
With over four million objects to discover, what will you find?
The Milwaukee Public Museum, founded in 1882, has long served as a cultural anchor for Milwaukee and the Wisconsin region.
A natural history and human history museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin offers immersive exhibits that explore the natural world, global cultures, ancient history, and local Wisconsin heritage. The collection includes over 4 million objects and specimens—from fossils and taxidermy to cultural artifacts and historical treasures.
The Milwaukee Public Museum
what will you find? the tagline designed to activate curiosity, became more prominent in messaging and marketing as the emphasis was placed on the you (individual) personal interpretation, to trigger curiosity, invite personal meaning (nostalgia) and aligns with exploration, a universal human behavior shared across ages and backgrounds.
The phrase positions exploration as discovery and participatory—placing the viewer or visitor at the center of the narrative.
This approach makes the message adaptable across generations, platforms, and cultural contexts, all things museums needs to consider.
While the content and audience is different, there needed to be a through line with messaging and design.
what will you find? sits at the top of the bag, almost inviting you to peek inside.
Designed for the Museum store using an illustration that fuses two of the museum’s most iconic attractions—Dinosaurs and the Streets of Old Milwaukee— printed on natural kraft paper that aligns the museum’s natural-history ethos, Each touchpoint’s messaging and design was considered. Running the stat of “4 million objects and specimens” down the inside of a bag that is visible once expanded, reinforces the idea of discovery, while elevating brand visibility and reinforcing the museum experience long after visitors left.
