Dublin City Libraries Visual Identity

2020

Designed by Barry McLaughlin and Phil Kilcooley at Source

Project Manager: Barry McLaughlin

Categories: Identity / Signage

Industry: Cultural

Tags: Libraries and Archives

Dublin City Libraries is the largest library authority in the Republic of Ireland, serving over half a million people through a network of 21 branch libraries, a number of specialist services and Mobile Library stops. Up until recently, while a distinct entity in its own right, it operated under the umbrella of the Dublin City Council identity, often without any indication that the building was in fact a public library. Emerging from an exploration of signage to overcome this challenge, the new dual language Leabhann/Library identity has now established a versatile visual signature that can be universally applied to all library buildings, ranging from listed to contemporary across the city and can appear either independently or as part of a controlled lock-up with the Dublin City Library logo, depending on its application requirements. An extensive identity application guidelines manual has been produced, with the physical rollout of the signage system for both internal and external application now completed for 3 of the libraries in 2020, with the remainder of the rollout continuing throughout 2021.