Discovery Place and Charlotte Nature Museum are renamed

CHARLOTTE – Seventy years of science, exploration and wonder in Charlotte have a new look. Today, Discovery Place, Inc. unveiled a new brand identity with new logos, websites and name changes. The rebrand launched in celebration of the organization’s 70th anniversary, and will be formally presented at tonight’s One Night Wonder anniversary celebration in uptown Charlotte.

The organization’s four regional museums – Discovery Place, Charlotte Nature Museum, Discovery Place KIDS-Huntersville and Discovery Place KIDS-Rockingham – as well multiple education, professional development and community outreach programs are being integrated under one brand called “Discovery Place,” a unified organization that provides STEM education to the Carolinas.

To provide greater clarity and connection to the whole organization, Discovery Place, the science museum at 301 N Tryon St., has been renamed Discovery Place Science; Charlotte Nature Museum at 1658 Sterling Road adjacent to Freedom Park is now Discovery Place Nature; and the two Discovery Place Kids museums in Huntersville and Rockingham will keep their names with some minor typeface updates and new logos.

“For 70 years, Discovery Place has been dedicated to fulfilling our community’s need for educational experiences in science, technology and nature, starting in 1946 when Charlotte Nature Museum first opened. Since then, we have grown to offer four distinct Museum experiences, multiple education and outreach programs and professional development training for educators throughout the region. We’ve expanded so broadly that our audiences were having a hard time understanding the full scope of our work. Rebranding all of our efforts under one collective identity not only better reflects who we are, but also helps us more effectively communicate with our visitors and community members about what we do and how we serve them,” said Catherine Wilson Horne, president and CEO of Discovery Place.

Each Museum’s logo was given a fresh, modern update, and a new logo was created to represent the whole Discovery Place organization. Discovery Place’s logo continues to pay homage to the impossible triangle, also known as the Penrose triangle. This optical illusion icon has represented the company for 35 years since Discovery Place Science first opened on N Tryon St in 1981.

“We wanted to keep the impossible triangle at our core, but also represent how the organization has grown over the past 70 years. The new colored loop symbolizes all of the expanded initiatives and parts that make us whole,” said Debra Smul, Vice President, Marketing and Communications of Discovery Place. “By bringing our brands together, we want Discovery Place to be recognized as a unified educational experience that you can have at one of our Museums, in your school or out in the community.”

Discovery Place will introduce its new identity to the public with an advertising campaign, We Wonder. Do You? Developed in collaboration with Charlotte creative agency Wray Ward, the campaign is centered on curiosity, encouraging people to wonder about the world around them and to use the lens of science to build understanding. The new campaign celebrates the human need to explore, investigate and ask questions to help interpret the world.

Civic leaders and Discovery Place supporters will get a first-hand look at the new brand tonight at the organization’s anniversary celebration, One Night Wonder: An Event 70 Years in the Making.

While Discovery Place Science is closed to the public today in preparation for the event, visitors can see the new brand rolled out on newly redesigned websites at discoveryplace.org. Discovery Place collaborated with Charlotte digital marketing agency Union to create the fresh sites. Visitors will enjoy simplified navigation, filtered searches that customize the Museum experience for each guest’s interests and mobile optimization.

For more information about Discovery Place, visit discoveryplace.org.

About Discovery Place

One of the top hands-on science museums in the nation, Discovery Place provides ever-changing, entertaining facilities that engage people in the active exploration of science, technology and nature. Discovery Place provides STEM education to the Carolinas through four distinct museum experiences at Discovery Place Science, Discovery Place Nature and Discovery Place Kids, interactive educational programming, professional development training and community outreach initiatives.

For more information about Discovery Place, call 704.372.6261 x300, visit discoveryplace.org or connect with Discovery Place on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Discovery Place is supported, in part, with funding from the Arts & Science Council.

For 70 years, Discovery Place has been dedicated to fulfilling our community’s need for educational experiences in science, technology and nature, starting in 1946 when Charlotte Nature Museum first opened. Since then, we have grown to offer four distinct Museum experiences, multiple education and outreach programs and professional development training for educators throughout the region. We’ve expanded so broadly that our audiences were having a hard time understanding the full scope of our work. Rebranding all of our efforts under one collective identity not only better reflects who we are, but also helps us more effectively communicate with our visitors and community members about what we do and how we serve them.
Catherine Wilson Horne, president and CEO of Discovery Place