Even Manuel Radde’s rejected design work is an absolute treat

We like graphic design that’s in use just fine. If it’s good, get it out there. No problem. But there’s a certain frisson that comes with viewing work that you know has been rejected by the client. Whether they didn’t like the concept, the execution wasn’t good enough or they just didn’t have the budget to see the project through, it’s always interesting to see work that didn’t make the cut.

Which is why we’re showing off Manuel Radde’s rejected work for the Kunst Historiches Museum in Vienna, an identity that would never see the light of day otherwise. It’s not that it’s the only project of Manuel’s we like, the Austrian creative has more than his fair share of excellent work, it’s just that his concept is so neat, tidy and well executed – it borrows from the building’s own art history by using patterns in the flooring to construct the institute’s identity and grid systems – that we could hardly believe it hadn’t been put to use.

Still, perhaps another museum will see this and ask Manuel to design their identity instead. He’s more than capable.