But let's not lose sight of another change that's proved another vast improvement: Pentagram's reworking of SAM's brand identity.

Remember the old SAM logo? We didn't. We had to Google it. As soon as we saw it, we a) recognized it, and b) realized why it was completely forgettable. It couldn't scream "refugee from the mid-'80s" any louder -- and yes, we know it probably showed up in the early '90s.

The new logo -- excuse us, brand identity? Check out the stationery pictured at the top of this post, and the logo at the bottom. Pentagram's blog discusses their design philosophy for this project, and features a surplus of pretty pictures of this lovely new brand identity in action. An excerpt:

The Seattle Art Museum is unique in that it is comprised of “one museum in three locations:” the downtown Seattle Art Museum; the Olympic Sculpture Park, recently built on an undeveloped piece of waterfront within walking distance of the museum; and the Seattle Asian Art Museum, located nearby in Volunteer Park. The identity unifies the three sites and creates a common, recognizable identifier: SAM. “The city already colloquially embraced ‘SAM’ as a moniker,” says Miller, “so we were able to use this friendly acronym as the framework for the three sites, allowing the Olympic Sculpture Park and the Asian Art Museum to function under the umbrella of the ‘Seattle Art Museum.’” The identity was launched with a capital campaign for the museum entitled “I Am SAM.”

Hat tip: Fimoculous.