The story

As the V&A transformed from a legendary design museum and collection, to a trailblazing family of museums championing creativity for all, they needed to develop a brand story for each venue to capture the ambitious, distinct-yet-related mission and audience of each destination. For V&A South Kensington and Young V&A that also meant creating a new tone of voice and core copy. 

Working with a carefully-balanced strategic brand architecture and a wide and highly engaged set of stakeholders, we developed a tone of voice for South Kengsington and Young V&A as well as short, medium and long corporate boilerplate copy for each of the six V&A venues.

The V&A exists to share the power of creativity. At V&A South Kensington, that means inviting people into a world of extraordinary global creativity, with unmissable exhibitions and experiences for all. To make brand language a tool in achieving this goal and ensure it felt  unmistakably V&A South Kensington, we defined their tone of voice with two complementary tonal values: ‘Inviting’ and ‘Discovery’. Inviting meant writing that’s welcoming and warm, engaging and involving, and inclusive and respectful. Discovery meant writing that’s ‘celebratory and inspiring, clear and helpful, and expert and content rich.