Punctum Gallery

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Branding Digital

Pierced by Emotion

Punctum Gallery is an art gallery coming soon to the Noblesseneri district in Tallinn. The gallery is dedicated to contemporary art focusing on photography, but embraces all art media.

As Susie Hodge put it, art reflects the significance of its time. The gallery comprehends photography as a reflection of our society today and represents emerging and established artists who deal with currently relevant themes from both Estonia and abroad. Punctum highlights not just the visuals, but also believes that the idea behind a picture, the message, the research, the artistic practice is valuable. Curated exihibitions amplify artistic voices who contribute to the expanding medium of photography and to the evolution of contemporary art.

Our part:

Research and insights
Brand concept
Brand strategy
Brand identity
Art direction
Logo design
Creative strategy
Brand guidelines
Graphic design
Website design
Website development

BRONZE Typography

NOMINEE Logomark and Logotype

NOMINEE Graphic Design

BRONZE Logotype

NOMINEE Typography

NOMINEE Brand Identity

BRONZE Typographic Applications

NOMINEE Graphic communication

Naming the Gallery

Roland Barthes (1915—1980) was a French literary theorist and philosopher. In 1980, shortly prior to his death, his short book Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography was published. The book investigates the nature and essence of photography, and the effects it has on the spectator. Barthes' theory of photographic meaning makes a distinction between studium and punctum, highlighting punctum as photography-specific.

Studium explores how historical, social or cultural elements of our identity afflict our reading of art, and our reaction to it. Punctum on the other hand speaks beyond our cultural, trained self, and can be interpreted as our emotional self. What pierces us as a viewer can be a small detail, or the entire work. Punctum conveys meaning in a photograph without invoking any recognisable symbolic system, and accounts for the importance of emotion, and subjectivity in interacting with photographs.

Visual approach

The brand's visual approach is rooted in Barthes' analysis of punctum — the instance in which an element (or elements) rises from the scene, shots out of it like an arrow, and pierces us. Subtle, yet distinctive typography combined with a softened monochromatic colour palette lets artworks speak for themselves, thus letting the artistic voices behind them be both seen and heard.

We used a custom ripple effect to create distortion, as if words themselves were being pierced. In life, ripple effects is a situation in which when one thing occurs, it has a direct effect on others, who in turn affect situations and people around them. Imagine dropping a pebble into water, and watch the ripples it creates, how they move and affect one another. This occurrence can be compared to the effect art has on people. When becoming exposed to an artwork — the pebble —, we are being pierced by emotions that we in turn project onto those around us, thus creating a chain.

By combining Barthes' philosophical approach on photography with waves of emotions, we have given the brand a captivating and questioning, intelligent look, inspiring to look deeper and leaving us pierced by emotions.

Artists — Roxana Savin, Ana Vallejo, and Éva Szombat — and their works presented here were displayed at Punctum Gallery during the "Shades of Her" exhibition