Assignment 9: Museum Posters: Initial Research

For this assignment the task is to create three posters for a public building. The posters are to be aimed at the following demographic groups: children aged 5-9, teenagers aged 13-16 and a general adult population. 

I began by choosing a public building. I thought about venues I could access in order to look around and take photos, and also considered how each building might appeal to different age groups. Many public buildings are designed for either children or adults, but not both. I needed to find a public building with wide appeal. In order to focus my thoughts I created a mind map.

I concluded that the venue with most potential nearby would be the Millennium Gallery, so I got the tram into town and went to have a look around.

On the journey I looked at the advertising posters on the tram.I’ve not done well with posters in this unit, always not having simplified enough, so I looked for inspiration in these posters.

What I observed is that the posters work on two levels: at first glance there is a visually highlighted simple image and/or wording. At second glance there is a good deal more information, but it’s lower in the visual hierarchy. The advert for Boundary Outlet shows this particularly well, with the prominent cyclist against the background of logos.

Continuing my visual research, when I arrived at the gallery I collected all of their own publicity materials. These were in the form of leaflets rather than posters, but they gave me some visual cues as to how the gallery promotes itself.

The designs are very simple, showcasing the focal images by placing them on a plain background with white text in a widely used, therefore unobtrusive, font. Again, there is the simple design for the first glance backed up by lower hierarchy information to read once the viewer’s attention has been caught. I particularly like the diamond-shaped images which add visual interest without detracting from the main message.

I then went and talked to a member of staff, outlining my assignment and asking for recommendations of exhibits which were designed for our different demographics. I was advised of locations of these within the four exhibition rooms and a bit of background to the non-static exhibitions. 

The current exhibitions are: football art, metalwork (a permanent exhibition), Creative Connections Sheffield - an exhibition of famous Sheffield people including the bus shelter installation created by teenagers at a local school, and the permanent but varying selection of Ruskin art and inspiration. In both the football and Ruskin exhibitions there are activities set up for children. There is also a programme of talks and workshops associated with the exhibitions, which cater for a range of age groups.

I spent about an hour there, looking around and taking photos of possible objects for the posters. Here are my contact sheets.

My next steps will be to shortlist photos of objects for each of the three posters and start to think about how they might work within hierarchical compositions and what headlines and other information need to be included. I will also consider whether photos are the best medium or whether other art forms such as drawing or collage would be better, and which colour scheme/s to use. This next stage will be about trying things out and playing with visual elements, without arriving at final designs so as not to overwork the designs. These processes should then lead to the final designs for the three posters.