One museum, two logos—one bears witness to history, the other embraces the future. In May 2026, the brand identity design for the new Dongguan Museum was officially unveiled, adopting a unique strategy of retaining both the old and new logos, which has drawn industry attention. What brand planning logic lies behind this decision? How does the new logo convey Dongguan's spirit of mountains and waters through its “grand roof” silhouette? Why was the old logo retained? This article offers an in-depth analysis of the Dongguan Museum's brand revitalization from a professional brand design perspective.

I. Project Background: From a Century-Old Museum to a New Cultural Landmark in the Greater Bay Area

The Dongguan Museum, formerly the Dongguan Museum Library established in 1929, is the oldest cultural venue in Dongguan. In 2021, the construction of the new museum was fully launched. Located in the Dongguan Central Plaza and designed by Dongguan-born academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, He Jingtang, the new museum adopts the architectural concept of “City of Mountains and Waters, Layered Gardens.” With a total floor area of approximately 40,000 square meters—about 20 times that of the old museum—the new facility is positioned to "root itself in Dongguan, radiate across Lingnan, and face the world," aiming to become a high-level museum in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

On May 17, 2026, the new museum's brand identity was officially launched. Unlike conventional brand upgrades, the Dongguan Museum did not replace the old with the new. Instead, it chose to retain both logos, assigning each distinct roles in different scenarios. This decision offers a new paradigm for brand revitalization in cultural institutions.

II. Coexistence of Old and New Logos: A Wise Inheritance of Brand Assets

The old logo is inspired by the museum's collection piece, the "Yuan Dynasty Zhizheng Era Large Bronze Bell." Cast in 1346 and weighing approximately 2.5 tons, the bell bears inscriptions such as "Favorable Weather" and "Peace and Prosperity," serving as an important testament to the ancient Maritime Silk Road. This logo has accompanied Dongguan citizens for many years, carrying the public's familiarity and trust in the museum. In the future, it will continue to be used in scenarios such as operational management, academic research, and archival publications, preserving its historical depth and professional attributes.

The new logo, on the other hand, is derived from the new museum's architecture. It extracts the iconic “grand roof” silhouette through flowing orange lines, symbolizing openness, warmth, and vitality. The two logos serve different functions but are unified by the calligraphy of Mr. Rong Geng, ensuring consistency in the typographic system. This "dual-track" brand strategy values historical assets while embracing contemporary aesthetics, making it a classic case worthy of reference in cultural brand planning.

III. In-Depth Decoding of the New Logo Design: Translating the Spirit of Mountains and Waters and Architectural Language

1. Graphic Symbol: The Landscape Imagery in the Grand Roof

The new logo takes the “grand roof” silhouette of the new museum as its design origin. The undulating lines resemble both the letter “M” (the first letter of “Museum”) and the shapes of Lingnan mountains and the waves of the Dongjiang River, echoing Dongguan's geographical identity as a "City of Mountains and Waters." The continuous eaves symbolize a cultural settlement, expressing the cohesion of millennia-old Guanyi culture; the upward lift at the ends of the lines signifies Dongguan's open, progressive, and pioneering urban spirit. This "one form, multiple meanings" design approach achieves a triple unity of architectural form, natural geography, and urban spirit in the museum's logo design.

2. Color Strategy: The Five-Color Extension of Vibrant Orange

The new logo adopts “Vibrant Orange” as its primary color. The design team赋予了 it a dual connotation: on one hand, “orange” is homophonic with "sincerity" in Chinese, expressing the museum's attitude of connecting with urban culture through authenticity; on the other hand, orange resembles the color of flames and the rising sun, conveying warmth, approachability, and vitality. Around the primary color, the brand system extends into five auxiliary colors: Sandstone Red (derived from traditional Dongguan architecture), Dongjiang Blue (echoing the city's water veins), Blue-Gray Brick (representing the memory of the old city), and Brass Brown (inspired by the texture of cultural relics). This color system is deeply rooted in Dongguan's local culture, giving the brand identity both visual impact and a sense of cultural belonging.

3. Typography: The Cultural Anchor of Mr. Rong Geng's Calligraphy

In terms of typography, the Dongguan Museum selected the calligraphy of Mr. Rong Geng, a renowned Dongguan-born scholar, for the inscription "Dongguan Museum." Mr. Rong Geng was a paleographer and a master of epigraphy. His brushstrokes are integrated into the brand system, further strengthening the connection between the museum and the local cultural lineage. Both the old and new logos uniformly adopt this typography, ensuring unified recognition at the textual level and avoiding visual confusion.

IV. Professional Insights: The “Dual-Track” Thinking in Cultural Brand Upgrades

The brand revitalization of the Dongguan Museum offers three important insights for cultural institutions:

Insight One: Brand assets should not be easily discarded. The old logo carries the collective memory and emotional identity of the citizens; forcibly replacing it could provoke public resistance. Retaining the old logo for professional scenarios such as academic research and documentation respects history while reducing the cost of brand transition.

Insight Two: The new identity should resonate with the architectural space. The new logo directly extracts the silhouette of the new museum's architecture, creating a strong association between the brand identity and the physical space. When the public enters the new museum, the intertextual relationship between the logo and the architecture will deepen brand memory.

Insight Three: Color and typography are carriers of cultural belonging. Details such as the homophonic connection between “Vibrant Orange” and "sincerity," and the authentic calligraphy of Mr. Rong Geng, embed local culture into the brand system, transforming the logo into a readable and perceptible cultural symbol.

V. Conclusion: Two Expressions of One Museum

The coexistence of the old and new logos at the Dongguan Museum is not a stopgap measure but a carefully considered brand strategy. The old logo stands like a silent chronicler, guarding nearly a century of urban memory; the new logo acts like an enthusiastic guide, inviting the public into a fresh cultural space. The two are connected in spirit, each fulfilling its role, together narrating Dongguan's story from “history” to “future.” In the field of brand design, this approach proves that the wisest brand upgrade is not necessarily to overturn the past, but to allow history and the future to coexist harmoniously within the same visual system.