Founded in The Hague in 1847, Pulchri Studio is The Netherlands’ oldest society for artists. Responding to growing discontent over insufficient training and development opportunities, a group of young intellectual artists established the society as an outlet to exhibit their work and exchange ideas. Having designed Pulchri Studio’s visual identity, Studio Dumbar/DEPT® continued to produce poster campaigns, flyers and brochures for many years.
Our approach was driven by the society’s forward-thinking spirit; declaring with confidence that Pulchri Studio is as vital today as it was 150 years ago. The strategic objective – and challenge – was for the design to be appreciated by the most critical of all audiences: the artists who are members of Pulchri.
Each year, one designer was given full creative responsibility of the project, providing a unique opportunity to explore their talent and impress their personal ‘signature’ on Pulchri’s promotional design. Aesthetically, the look and feel changed from one year to the next, but a consistent thread prevailed: progressive in spirit, combining bright colours, sans serif type, abstract imagery and in some cases, new and innovative image-making techniques.
Acclaimed across the worlds of art and design, the posters and promotional campaigns for Pulchri Studio received numerous design awards.