The South African Mint has an extensive and impressive heritage. For more than 130 years it has been proudly producing award-winning circulation, collectable and bullion coins.
Its facility in Centurion is not only where all of South Africa’s coins are manufactured; it also houses the South African Mint Museum, where the story of the Mint is told and where coin enthusiasts (or numismatists) can see the range of coins produced by the Mint on display.
Flow Communications was approached to come up with installations and display ideas to enhance the visitor experience at the site and to highlight the recently launched Big 5 Series III collectable range of coins.
Part of the challenge we faced was to make use of three frames that stand in the Mint Museum’s reception area, which had been built previously but never utilised.
These would form the focal point of our proposed installation and offered the opportunity to create a series of vibrant and engaging displays that could speak to the inspiration and thinking behind the Big 5 Series III range, in which the coins feature the Big Five animals in dynamic poses.
The idea was to create artistic interpretations in three-dimensional space that reference the inspiration for the coins’ design: the majestic Big Five in motion within an African setting.
The muted colour palette of greys and golds reflects the silver and gold of the coin collection, and lighting was added to increase the mood and dramatic effect. Enlarged replicas of the coins were placed in the display to add to the appeal and give context to the displays.
Working alongside our production partners, we experimented with various materials, techniques and designs to achieve the optimum results with the maximum impact – and we believe we succeeded!
In addition to the installations in the South African Mint reception, we were also commissioned to come up with wall displays for the offices and museum, as well as some graphic panels and display case designs to supplement existing material in the museum.
The design of this content all ties in with the campaign identity and the “Your Legacy. Our Pride” concept that Flow developed for the broader Series III marketing campaign.
All of this work was done prior to the 32nd Mint Directors Conference (MDC) earlier this year, which was co-hosted by the South African Mint and which included a visit by international delegates to the Centurion premises and the museum.
By all accounts, the work was greatly appreciated, with the reception installations being used as backdrops for photo ops by the delegates!