Glittery pigeon poo splat logo divides opinion

The rebranded London Museum has unveiled its new logo

The new logo for the Museum of London featuring a porcelain pigeon and a glittery poo splat is dividing opinion.

The director of the museum, Sharon Ament, said the pigeon and splat represented the "grit and glitter" of the capital.

However, museums newsletter author Maxwell Blowfield said pigeons were "one of the least unique things about London".

The museum, which has been renamed as the London Museum, has a new premises due to open in Smithfield and a revamp is taking place at its Docklands site.

"No-one ever thinks, feels or speaks about pigeons," Maxwell Blowfield says

Ms Ament said: “The pigeon and splat speak to a historic place full of dualities; a place where the grit and the glitter have existed side by side for millennia; an impartial and humble observer of London life."

Mr Blowfield, author of the popular Maxwell Museums' newsletter, wrote: "No-one ever thinks, feels or speaks about pigeons. They’re one of the least unique things about London.

"London is a remarkable place," he said in a review. "Yet the London Museum has managed to avoid representing anything remarkable about it in this rebrand. Which is in itself remarkable."

Josh Green, from designers Uncommon Creative Studio, which came up with the logo, said: “London Museum’s new brand is characterful and distinctive, and communicates something important about London.”

Nils Leonard, co-founder at Uncommon, added: "We wanted the pigeon to also become a reflection of the diversity and constantly changing beauty of the city.

"So we designed it as a blank canvas that could mirror the influences, identities, ideas or events shaping London."

The designers said they recruited someone from each of the capital's 32 boroughs who had "made their mark on London", ranging from tattoo artists to DJs, to help them come up with the idea.

They also consulted 500 other Londoners about the rebrand.

Ms Ament added: "A good logo gets people talking. Our pigeon, cast from London clay and its splat, rendered in glitter, prompts people to reconsider London."