Project Projects was commissioned in 2010 to design the identity for SALT, a new cultural institution in Istanbul. Merging a contemporary art space, an architecture and design gallery, and a scholarly archive, SALT promotes research and experimental thinking. This mission prompted a meditation on the nature of institutional identity in a world of continuous cultural change.

The institution’s name has a unique position within the identity system: the letters S-A-L-T are not represented as a formal mark, but are instead embedded within custom-designed typeface, Kraliçe. As a result, no logo or singular graphic mark is necessary: the institution strategically disperses its name within the language it uses everyday, for a scale of applications.

In addition, an ongoing curatorial program initiated by Project Project takes the identity system itself as a space for intervention. Periodically, a select group of designers will be invited to reimagine the letters S-A-L-T and thereby modulate the identity’s overall look.

“SALT’s flexible identity system is not simply mutation for its own sake. It is change with the intention of creating an awareness about design… Put simply, Project Projects employs a branding strategy that takes identity to another level.”
— Steve Heller, National Design Awards 2011 Design Mind, “A Graphic Identity Made of and for SALT, the New Cultural Institution,” The Atlantic (November 3, 2011)