California State University,
Dominguez Hills University Art Gallery Identity

The CSU Dominguez Hills University Art Gallery serves the campus and broader community as a laboratory for contemporary art and design practices. Working with the gallery director, Content Object created a brand that complemented the gallery’s deep committment to building a creative and innovative art and design culture that celebrates artists and engages audiences. The brand development was also intended to serve as a learning experience for art and design students at the university who were included in the presentation and feedback process.


The CSUDH community is not the only thing that makes the gallery space unique: it has a history and an architectural pedigree worth noting. The ceiling of the gallery is an extruded lattice of cubes and intersections, which is a recurring motif throughout the A. Quincy Jones designed buildings around the university campus. The logomark pulls from that architectural element, representing the join between two lines in the grid, while also acting as a frame and display mechanism, much like the gallery itself.



The mark also forms the basis of a pattern building system, a generative tool for constructing layouts and embellishing designs for digital and print collateral, including event flyers, cards, and posters. Since students in the design program will be making the final promotional items, the system again serves as a teaching tool and a constraint within which the students can experiment.