The Wedge Collection was established in 1997 in Toronto by Dr. Kenneth Montague. It is one of Canada’s largest, privately owned contemporary art collections that explore African diasporic culture and contemporary Black life. ¶ Originally conceived as The Wedge Gallery, this was a private and public experience, with the original gallery literally wedged inside the narrow hallways of Montague’s home. ¶ Today, the Wedge Collection comprises over 400 original works by artists from Canada, the United States, and throughout the Diaspora. It also houses an extensive catalog of resource materials, including books, art journals, newspapers, magazines, and exhibition and artist documentation, and lends works to international traveling exhibitions. ¶ In early 2022, Dr. Kenneth Montague tapped Vocal Type to design a new logo system inspired by their mission. ¶
It’s extremely rare that the first concept a creative pitches is the one the partner chooses, but that’s precisely what happened in this case. ¶ We started with the icon (above). Inspired by the name and mission, the icon was created by combining three canvas wedges to form this 'W' icon. It speaks simply to what the collection is about and who it is for. ¶ Once the icon was complete, we took those wedge shapes to create what’s known as a wedge serif. ¶
Once all of the wedge serif characters and wedge-shaped icons were completed, a series of 3 complete logotypes were created.
