New Horniman Museum campaign highlights our place in nature

The Horniman Museum and Gardens in south London has partnered with local creative agency Anatomy to develop a new brand campaign, exploring humanity’s place in nature. Aptly titled It’s in our Nature, the work is the result of not just a close collaboration between the Museum and the agency, but also the agency and local communities, who helped to shape the campaign through special co-creation workshops.

Commenting on the brief, Annie Duffield, director of audiences and income at Horniman, sayid: “As London’s only museum where global cultures and the natural world can be enjoyed side-by-side, we required a brand campaign that would capture more than just what we care for, but what visitors feel and experience together – excitement, curiosity, contemplation and connection.”

The resulting campaign taps into our special relationship with the natural world, of which we are a crucial part. It is thoughtfully built around a bespoke typeface created for the museum, which takes inspiration from forms, patterns and objects found within the collections and gardens at the Horniman.

The team at Anatomy looked to signage, textiles, plants and even an old weather vane on-site to provide the foundations for the typeface. As such, it is filled with both manmade and natural forms, emphasising the connection between humans and their surroundings, as well as our innate desire for exploration and discovery.

This theme is evident across the rest of the campaign, with messaging such as Explore, Play, Seek, Roam, Gather, Wonder, Reflect, Pause, Share and Belong hinting at the behaviours that are simply ‘in our nature’. The work encourages us not to ignore these things, but instead to seek them out.

Colour also plays a key role in communicating this message, with vibrant pairings that are drawn from the Museum and gardens themselves. Naturally, shades of green feature heavily, but are also accompanied by pops of yellow, pink, red and bluey-purple. The resulting palette is warm and inviting, hoping to speak to potential visitors of all ages.

Finally, Anatomy used photography by Rory Langdon-Down to further centre the local community within the campaign. Instead of opting for professional models, they chose to depict real visitors in their imagery, emphasising the Horniman’s enduring commitment to the public.

“We’re becoming increasingly disconnected from the things that make us human: nature, community and shared experience,” noted Dan Templeton-King, client director at Anatomy. “The places that will matter most in the future are those that help rebuild those connections. The Horniman does exactly that, helping people explore their relationship with the natural world and their place within it.”