Working with graphic design and creating uniform visual profiles was something new. In the art field there were two museum directors who highlighted new ideas at this time.

Willem Sandberg at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam was originally a graduate typographer and started working at the museum as a graphic designer in 1928 before being appointed director in 1945. Despite the fact that he also led the museum, he designed most of the museum's printed matter himself. Thus, he gave the institution a distinctive expression and was in many ways the first to design a visual identity for a museum.

Pontus Hultén at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm was also a driving force for radical and extreme graphic expressions - something not least seen through the posters and publications that were made in collaboration with designers John Melin and Anders Österlin in the 50's and 60's.

Henie Onstad was inspired by this way of thinking and worked closely with many various visual artists and graphic designers. During the first years, names such as Paul Brand, Hans Jørgen Toming, Viggo Andersen, Armin Hofmann, Kjell Bjørgeengen and Group Lyn created posters for the art center.