LAG Rebrand

The Lavelle Art Gallery has long been considered one of Ireland’s finest and most prestigious art galleries operating in the west of Ireland. Founded by Eoin Lavelle in 1988 as a summer pursuit, the gallery is now run by husband and wife team, Deborah Watkins and Eoin’s son, Gavin Lavelle, who is an acclaimed Irish artist.

The gallery has evolved over the years into an incredible gallery space featuring local and international artists and its doors are open to visitors all year round. Today, the gallery maintains a longstanding reputation for the promotion of fine art paintings of the highest quality to be found on the island of Ireland.

Debbie and Gavin approached me in 2014 with an ambitious plan to reimagine their brand. The approach to the redesign was challenging as we had to thread the needle between maintaining the gallery’s historical authenticity and character as a serious art gallery but also wanted to bring more of a whimsical and inviting side to the brand’s personality.

We also needed to consider its physical context. The gallery is located right in the heart of a busy town and is surrounded by other buildings so we had to make sure that the gallery did indeed stand out, for all the right reasons, while at the same time respecting the other buildings and locational constraints.

Maintaining the long since established brand colours, Debbie and Gavin allowed me to explore several concepts and designs around their visual identity, which spanned the entire building itself, both exterior and interior spaces, down to their logo mark, typeface selection, and the establishment of their marketing collateral both online and in print.

To touch on where we went on the whimsical, non-serious side, at each meeting we were accompanied by their little family dog called Snowy—inspiration hit at one of those meetings—why not feature Snowy on the logo? He spent more time in the gallery than he did at home, and was a regular, friendly face at the gallery. We all felt this would bring a lightheartedness to the identity, and after all, this is a family-run business. It didn’t take too much convincing to warm everyone to this idea, and we could really see the idea taking shape once I got some early concepts down, and that’s all it took to immortalize Snowy!

The months-long design process began with some early conceptualizing design working alongside Debbie until we reached a point where we felt that the creative direction, in terms of the brand’s personality was where it should be. Work began on the outside of the building, I had mocked up some early concepts and worked with painters, carpenters, sign-makers, and sign-writers to make it all happen.

I absolutely loved working with Debbie and Gavin, because helping small businesses is my passion, to see the fruits of your labour impact in real and substantial ways. Everyone was delighted with the end result, which was celebrated by a launch night, when all the friends and artists of the gallery were invited along to see and experience the new look, with Snowy getting much-needed pats on the head, selfies, and treats for being such a good sport.