Rising from the southwest corner of the sprawling University of Texas campus is a non-descript, brutalist building that may be one of the best kept secrets in the city of Austin, Texas. The Harry Ransom Center (HRC), a first-class library, archive and museum, is a hidden gem admired by scholars and collectors the world over, but the HRC is not well known to the newcomers of this booming city, or even to the thousands of UT students who walk by it every day on their way to class. In the Fall of 2023 Pentagram’s Austin office was given the challenge to help remedy that problem by developing a refreshed brand identity system on the occasion of the Harry Ransom Center’s 50th Anniversary.

The Harry Ransom Center, initially the Humanities Research Center, was founded in 1957 by Harry Huntt Ransom, then Vice President and Provost of The University of Texas. The institution was named after him in 1974. The center’s original mission was to create a world-class library by acquiring literary archives focusing on modern and contemporary authors, a strategy that differed from traditional collecting at the time. Since then, the HRC has expanded its archives to include significant holdings of photography, art, film and the performing arts. 

Standouts of the HRC collection include a two-volume edition of the Gutenberg Bible (one of only 20 in the world) and the earliest surviving photograph. Pentagram Austin designed the 3D displays for those rare holdings in the early 2000’s. Other highlights in the archive include Edgar Allan Poe’s desk, Frida Kahlo’s iconic “Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird,” Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” notebook and scroll, Harry Houdini’s love letters and the entire Gernsheim Collection of early photographic works. 

In addition to those items, the HRC has housed and exhibited the personal archives of prominent figures in literature and the arts including actor Robert De Niro who donated his extensive collection of film-related materials, including scripts, costumes, production notes and personal correspondence. De Niro, who is friends with Saturday Night Live founder Lorne Michaels, convinced Michaels to donate his archives as well. Pentagram Austin worked with the HRC recently to create the brand identity and visitor experience for “Live From New York: The Lorne Michaels Collection,” a major exhibition showcasing items from Michaels’ personal archive running from September 2025 to March 2026. The popular show has already surpassed the all-time attendance record at the HRC.

Kicking-off the Harry Ransom Center rebrand initiative, the Pentagram team reviewed notes and audience feedback gathered by the HRC in-house team and asked a lot of questions. Based on these initial findings and the design team’s own research, it was apparent that the center’s visual identity had not been updated since its founding. The original mark for the HRC was a simple three-letter acronym, set all-caps in Trajan, the cliché “movie poster font,” with the letters “H” and “R” sharing a vertical stroke.

At the onset, the Pentagram team explored numerous design directions but eventually realized that an evolution of the existing identity was the best direction. The original icon and accompanying wordmark looked academic and serious but also resembled a Texas cattle brand, a fitting combination for a research library and literary archive housed on the premises of a prominent Texas university. The original identity had also gained valuable recognition over time as the only identifier for the institution for a half century, but it looked dated and didn’t function well in small applications–particularly in today’s demanding digital environment. 

To remedy these issues, the identity is recast in a contemporary font family called GT Ultra, designed by Noël Leu for Grilli Type, that dances between the worlds of sans and serifs–fusing calligraphy and construction. The GT Ultra font family’s balance between flair and function, and its hefty suite of weights and cuts, gives the brand a variety of typographic forms to work with. The blend of classic and modern styling works well when paired with the broad range of diverse objects in the collection.

In addition, the new system is infused with a modern color signature. The identity’s ample palette is populated by a rich spectrum of vibrant colors and a suite of recommended combinations spelled out in the style guidelines. The sassy color combos paired with the collection’s wide range of vintage imagery expresses the HRC’s new visual attitude across a variety of touchpoints. 

The new HRC acronym mark, set in the Median weight of GT Ultra, is redrawn so the cap letters “H” and “R” (the initials of the founder’s name) connect more seamlessly and purposefully. To balance out the all-caps HRC acronym icon, the wordmark “Harry Ransom Center” is set sentence case which is easier to read in most situations and gives the institution a more approachable demeaner. 

Since its inception, the Harry Ransom Center has been referred to by its less-formal acronym, “HRC,” by the public but internally the center adhered to an un-written rule to spell-out the formal name of the institution in most situations. Based on its stated goal to rebrand the collection so that it appeals to a less-academic, more general audience, the Pentagram team designed the new identity system to lead-with the HRC icon. Like other renowned cultural institutions, including “MoMA” and “The Met,” the HRC is now officially referred to, verbally and visually, by its popular nickname in most applications.