What is exhibition graphics design?
Exhibition graphics design is the design of everything visitors read and see on the walls and surfaces of an exhibition: the title wall, section text, object labels, wayfinding, large images, and the typography and color that tie them together. It makes an exhibition legible, and it sets its tone.
What it includes
The visual identity of the show, meaning the title treatment, typeface, color and any repeating shapes or marks. The hierarchy of text, from the title wall and introductory panel to section text and object labels. Wayfinding and signage. Large-scale images and graphics on walls. And the production details: materials, finishes, sizes and files for the fabricator.
How it differs from exhibition design
Exhibition design is the whole experience: the layout of the gallery, the walls and structures, lighting, sequence and graphics. Graphics are one layer of that. They work best when they are designed together with the space, because type and color have to respond to the walls, light and distance they will actually be seen at.
What good graphics do
They make the structure of the show clear without getting in the way of the objects. Sometimes that means restraint. The graphics for The Honest Eye use thin, stacked typographic forms and modest color fields that echo the layered surfaces of Pissarro's paintings while avoiding visual excess. Sometimes the work itself sets the terms: for Senga Nengudi: Topologies, the motion and tension in her work informed the contrast between light and dark and the pull and distortion of the typography.
In our work
- The Honest Eye: Camille Pissarro’s Impressionism
- Senga Nengudi: Topologies
- Carla Fernández: Casa De Mode