Flow was recently awarded the job of redesigning two halls at the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History.
Some of the challenges facing an exhibition designer include being creative while working with prescribed content, a variable audience, extensive collection pieces, and limited space. Add to this the fact that this institution is 121 years old and is housed in a heritage building, and the pressure mounts.
We spoke to Tina Brown, lead graphic designer on the project and head of Flow’s design studio, about what it takes to turn the Bird and Biodiversity Halls at the museum into world-class exhibits.
Why is research such an important part of the design process?
Research is always a critical part of the solution to any design project – unless it’s something that has been done frequently by the team involved and there is a process in place.
Part of our brief from Ditsong was that the museum be world-class – therefore we looked at museums that are considered world-class in order to benchmark criteria such as content display, interaction between the visitor and the exhibits, what the current trends are and whether are they sustainable, and how other designers have solved similar problems to the ones that exist within the space we are working in.
Things like way-finding and info graphics are quite critical in museums, and visitors have a highly developed visual literacy due to technological advances. It is therefore critical to develop exhibits that will engage on many levels so that return visits are ensured.
How many museums have you visited or looked at as part of your research?
Janet Berger, CEO of Flow Exhibitions, went on a trip to the United Kingdom and the United States, where she visited numerous museums and met curators.
I’ve visited a few museums here in South Africa, and some in the UK, Europe and Australia. The ones I’ve visited have had quite varied exhibits. I’ve been to quite a few transport museums as my father is an aeronautical engineer – I’ve even seen aircraft there that he worked on when he first started his career.
I’ve been to art, design, product/industrial design, glass, war, religious exhibits, architecture and natural history museums – wow, more museums than I thought! Although these visits were not research for this project in particular – they were regarding functional spatial design as a whole.
What’s been the most challenging aspect in this design process?
From a design point of view, the beginning of the process is always the most difficult – deciding what is critical, how particular elements will roll through the exhibit, whether the elements are functional or just decorative. For me, it’s been getting the balance right and being able to maintain it throughout the exhibit, which is a fine line sometimes.
How far along is the redesign?
We are about two-thirds of the way now.
What materials have you chosen to make important parts of the collection stand out?
The Biodiversity Hall is very clean; we have used white Corian, which is very durable and malleable, with glass and aluminium. The colour palette was kept fairly tight and the graphics give an added layered effect.
For the Bird Hall, wood and brushed aluminium have been used, which will house the large bird collection without overpowering them visually. We are combining that with large visuals of birds so that the birds almost speak for themselves.
