Reinventing Play: The Swiss Museum of Games Unveils a Dynamic New Identity

Designed by Hymn

The Swiss Museum of Games (Musée Suisse de Jeu, or MSJ) is a unique institution in Switzerland, highlighting the evolution of games from traditional marbles, pawns, dice, cards, and board games to modern controllers, joysticks, pixels, and video games. Located in the castle of La Tour-de-Peilz on the picturesque banks of Lake Geneva, the museum has been a hub for game enthusiasts since its inception in 1987. In 2023, under the leadership of new Director Selim Krichane, the museum embarked on a rebranding journey to revitalize its presence in a game-changing way.

Hymn faced the challenge of creating an identity that encapsulated the universe of games without focusing on any single game. The rebranding needed to avoid the use of familiar game elements such as cards, chess pieces, checkers, dominos, Monopoly tokens, and Scrabble tiles. The new identity had to be timeless, simple, and accessible to a diverse audience ranging from ages 3 to 99. Additionally, the museum required a flexible visual identity that could be adapted for various internal teams and formats, much like a custom version of Tetris designed by Hymn.

Hymn's proposal drew inspiration from tabletop games. They introduced a variety of white tokens with rounded edges on the board. Some tokens displayed geometric shapes echoing iconic game symbols and colors, while others featured the museum’s French-language monogram: M, S, and J (Musée Suisse de Jeu). This foundation allowed the museum’s visual identity to unfold as a series of movable and interlinking tiles featuring six different geometric shapes and letters.

This approach provided endless possibilities for different combinations. The token shapes could be aligned horizontally and vertically, allowing for versatile arrangements of letters, colors, and shapes without predetermined rules. This playful strategy ensured an ever-fresh, captivating, and immersive experience. It could be applied to static channels like print and signage, as well as dynamically adapt to animated channels like the website, social media, or digital signage. The museum now had the freedom to play with its logo and continuously reinvent itself.

To complement this visual design, Hymn selected a simple and highly readable typography, the font Ease. This typeface, contemporary yet timeless, resembled Helvetica with added roundness. As requested by the museum, it was designed by a Swiss type foundry, Studio Feixen, reinforcing the museum’s Swiss heritage.

Through this innovative rebranding, Hymn successfully transformed the Swiss Museum of Games into a true game changer.

Hymn is a design studio that specializes in branding and transforming brands. Located in Lausanne, Switzerland, Hymn uses its extensive expertise to effect profound and impactful changes in company identities and customer experiences. Transformations at the core of an organization create a ripple effect that influences the entire brand and its representation. Hymn supports brands in shaping their emerging projects and all related developments, whether these are internal (repositioning, directional shifts, etc.) or external (mergers, service offering expansions, business restructuring, etc.). Through design and creative insight, Hymn can transform and elevate existing brands, ensuring they stay relevant and strong as they progress into the future.

Reinventing Play: The Swiss Museum of Games Unveils a Dynamic New Identity

The Swiss Museum of Games (Musée Suisse de Jeu, or MSJ) is a unique institution in Switzerland, highlighting the evolution of games from traditional marbles, pawns, dice, cards, and board games to modern controllers, joysticks, pixels, and video games. Located in the castle of La Tour-de-Peilz on the picturesque banks of Lake Geneva, the museum has been a hub for game enthusiasts since its inception in 1987. In 2023, under the leadership of new Director Selim Krichane, the museum embarked on a rebranding journey to revitalize its presence in a game-changing way.

Hymn faced the challenge of creating an identity that encapsulated the universe of games without focusing on any single game. The rebranding needed to avoid the use of familiar game elements such as cards, chess pieces, checkers, dominos, Monopoly tokens, and Scrabble tiles. The new identity had to be timeless, simple, and accessible to a diverse audience ranging from ages 3 to 99. Additionally, the museum required a flexible visual identity that could be adapted for various internal teams and formats, much like a custom version of Tetris designed by Hymn.

Hymn's proposal drew inspiration from tabletop games. They introduced a variety of white tokens with rounded edges on the board. Some tokens displayed geometric shapes echoing iconic game symbols and colors, while others featured the museum’s French-language monogram: M, S, and J (Musée Suisse de Jeu). This foundation allowed the museum’s visual identity to unfold as a series of movable and interlinking tiles featuring six different geometric shapes and letters.

This approach provided endless possibilities for different combinations. The token shapes could be aligned horizontally and vertically, allowing for versatile arrangements of letters, colors, and shapes without predetermined rules. This playful strategy ensured an ever-fresh, captivating, and immersive experience. It could be applied to static channels like print and signage, as well as dynamically adapt to animated channels like the website, social media, or digital signage. The museum now had the freedom to play with its logo and continuously reinvent itself.

To complement this visual design, Hymn selected a simple and highly readable typography, the font Ease. This typeface, contemporary yet timeless, resembled Helvetica with added roundness. As requested by the museum, it was designed by a Swiss type foundry, Studio Feixen, reinforcing the museum’s Swiss heritage.

Through this innovative rebranding, Hymn successfully transformed the Swiss Museum of Games into a true game changer.

Hymn is a design studio that specializes in branding and transforming brands. Located in Lausanne, Switzerland, Hymn uses its extensive expertise to effect profound and impactful changes in company identities and customer experiences. Transformations at the core of an organization create a ripple effect that influences the entire brand and its representation. Hymn supports brands in shaping their emerging projects and all related developments, whether these are internal (repositioning, directional shifts, etc.) or external (mergers, service offering expansions, business restructuring, etc.). Through design and creative insight, Hymn can transform and elevate existing brands, ensuring they stay relevant and strong as they progress into the future.