Maps and the Twentieth Century: Drawing the Line
We wanted the visitor to feel as though they have literally stepped onto a map so an essential part of the design became a bespoke illustrated floor installation that covered the entire gallery footprint, placing the visitor onto a map to immerse them in the experience and provide moments of surprise and intrigue throughout the exhibition. The narrative of the installation follows that of the content supporting the exhibition’s ideas and messages. To date it’s the largest floor graphic of its kind in the UK at approx. 650 sqm.
As the installation transformed it evolved to convey the ubiquitous nature of maps and journeyed from dramatic tension and uncertainty to abstracted playfulness, incorporating illusions and inhabiting the floor, plinths and walls, changing its character as the narrative required, reinforcing the idea present in most of the maps that a 2D language can express a 3D world.
We maximised surface area to give the content breathing space and subtly referenced a ‘folded map’ language throughout the structural elements, designing a layout that gave the visitor freedom to explore each area. The exhibition colour palette drew from the maps themselves and were carefully chosen to work within each theme.
Our role
Exhibition design
Graphic design
Illustration
Artwork
Curtain Up
Marking the 40th anniversary of the Olivier Awards and our second collaboration with theatre designer Tom Piper, this exhibition immerses the visitor in the behind the scenes world of West End and Broadway theatre production.
The challenge was to create a dramatic, immersive graphic language that could support the theatrical narrative but also hold and convey the content with clarity. We wanted to explore scale and the architectural differences between London and New York and photographed a number of theatres and street views in both cities to capture the subtle sense of illusion as the buildings loom above street level.
These images were further distorted as a basis for creating the large illustrated backdrops. Each highly detailed illustration was designed to place the visitor in the scene and draw them through the space.
The idea of playing with the perspective views one might have when looking up at the billboards and theatre signs when strolling through both theatre districts, was also reflected in the graphic interpretation.
Curtain Up is a joint collaboration between the V&A and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, where it will be on display from October 2016, part of a year-long programme of activity organised by the Society of London Theatre to celebrate 40 years of the Olivier Awards.
Our role
Graphic design
Illustration
Artwork
Blood, Uniting & Dividing
‘Remarkable... it’s not often that an exhibition at a smallish museum makes a big point’
The Times
‘A fascinating show, punching hugely above its weight’
Tom Sutcliffe, Radio 4
★★★★
The Independent
Blood draws together art, film and literature to present a rich exploration of how blood can unite and divide. With the exhibition confronting some of the most difficult issues surrounding Jewish culture and identity: the rite of circumcision, the slander of the blood libel, and ideas of the Jewish ‘race’ and of racial purity, we wanted to create a dynamic graphic language that would confidently reflect the provocative subject matter without overwhelming the content.
Our first collaboration with theatre designer Tom Piper, we created a capillary visual to connect to a suspended blood bag leading the visitor into the space, physically connecting with the first of two of Tom’s installations and establishing the red and white colour palette.
Our role
Graphic design
Marketing
Illustration
Artwork
Whiskers Between My Legs
Commissioned by artist and designer Julie Verhoeven we produced the animated content for a film that formed part of her immersive installation at the ICA, London. The film explores concepts of femininity and how they are represented in popular culture and character. Inspired by the Underground Sketchbook of Tomi Ungerer, Pim was conceived to playfully support the film’s humerous narrative referencing female seduction, titilation and perversion, defying our perceptions of femininity gender and taste.
Primarily known for her work as a fashion designer and illustrator, this display highlighted Verhoeven’s increasing interdisciplinary practice throughout the visual arts, from fashion illustration, to installation and film.
Comfort & Joy
Sky Arts, The Art of the Joy of Sex
Pim had the chance to appear again as part of a documentary for Sky Arts where Julie re-interprets the iconic 1970’s book The Joy of Sex through her film Comfort and Joy, playfully exploring the joy of sex in the 21st century. The documentary and film aired in August 2015.
Our role
Animation
Character design
Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy
Whilst the exhibition marking the 800th anniversary of the granting of Magna Carta brings together iconic documents alongside rare artifacts and beautifully illuminated medieval manuscripts, much of the content is fragile and aesthetically subdued documentation.
Working closely with RFK Architects, the challenge was to create a graphic language that delivered a high word count elegantly without dominating or competing with the content and in turn strengthen the relationship between each section theme.
Inspired by the diversity of the paper content, structure and texture, we explored the idea of using subtly varying paper folds to reference individual documents from each section. The design encompassed photography of the shadow play of paper folds, from the suggestion of stitched medieval volumes to the lighter weight overlaid layers of 1950’s Government papers.
Client
RFK Architects
Our role
Graphic design
Artwork
Banqueting House
In response to the conservation needs of the Banqueting House team we designed an engaging and immersive visitor experience incorporating an internal digital interpretation and external building wrap. Taking the theme of ‘revolutionary building’ and playing with a Trompe L’oeil illusion we created an arresting and unexpected view of the Banqueting House where the passer-by can peer inside to look at the Rubens ceiling. Visual layers are peeled away to reveal historical content whilst a visually dynamic device leads visitors to the entrance, the lower hoardings highlighting some of the personal story narratives and architectural features of the building.
This 14 month project involved overseeing contractor procurement, sampling and testing, the design and rendering of interior andmexterior 3D design visualisations, artwork, value engineering and the preparation of Westminster planning applications.
Our role
Graphic design
Artwork
Animation
Storyboards
Soldiers at Stonehenge:
Salisbury Plain and the journey to the First World War
Stonehenge stood at the heart of the world’s largest military training camp during the First World War with 180,000 soldiers based there at any one time. This centenary exhibition tells the story of the Stonehenge landscape, its neighbouring communities and how they were dramatically altered by the Great War.
With access to an incredible archive of photographs and period postcards, objects and their personal stories were supported by a rich visual language of original imagery, giving the narratives a strong sense of place and embedding the stories within the landscape of Salisbury Plain.
Our role
Exhibition design
Graphic design
Artwork
Ancient lives, new discoveries
With a technology and science led experience we wanted to connect the narratives of each human life to the landscape of the region and create a beautifully integrated visual language that introduced warmth and texture to the interpretation.
By printing graphics direct to polished plaster and integrating these plaster panels into the build structure, the subtle tactility collectively conveyed warm stone and earth, helping to balance leading scientific investigation within the landscape of poignant human stories.
Working with the digital media team AllofUs we created style guides, collaborating to ensure that the graphic language was carried through to the interactive elements.
Our role
Graphic design
Artwork
Family trail design & illustration
Street to Trench
The largest exhibition of its kind explored the lives and experiences of people from the North West of England during the First World War.
Inspired by the IWM’s First World War poster collection, the surprising range of colours allowed us to create a contemporary palette whilst evoking a rich period feel to the graphic language, in turn complemented by printing direct to a range of coloured Valchromat.
The scope ranged from recreating a poster wall and an entire terraced street to a 120sqm photographic backdrop of Manchester in the early 20th century, enhancing the street vista and highlighting Libeskind’s dramatic interior space.
With a focus on local, personal stories we extracted handwritten statements from the letters of Ada and Eva McGuire to bring a voice and relevancy to each section theme. This language was extended through a series of digital ‘story boxes’ juxtaposing traditional animation with poignant photographic landscapes to bring to life the letters and humerous ink drawings of Henry Lamb who wrote to his nephew from the trenches and the letters of a family desperate to save their horse Betty from being recruited by Kitchener’s army.
Clients
NISSEN RICHARDS studio
Imperial War Museums
Our role
Graphic design
Animation
Artwork
Collider
This award winning exhibition immerses the visitor in the world of CERN and the story of the Large Hadron Collider. We produced the exhibition identity and designed the graphic language that guides the visitor through each space highlighting content with a variety of interpretative devices.
Inspired by our research at CERN and conscious not to deliver information with too much of a curatorial tone we used hand drawn elements to convey information on flip charts and whiteboards as if the physicists have stepped out for a moment leaving their notes for the visitor to stumble upon. We also produced a variety of hand drawn animated content culminating in a projected installation that the Economist described as 'mesmerising'
With over 600 sq m of backdrop graphics we recreated the visual environment of CERN from the lecture theatre where the Higgs discovery was announced to the 27km LHC tunnel. We have also adapted the design for MSI and venues across its international tour, producing dual language graphics and animation for the Palais de la Découverte, Paris, and the Hong Kong Science Museum where it can be seen until May 2016.
2014 Dibner Award winner for Excellence.
Clients
Science Museum
MSI, Manchester
Palais de la Découverte, Paris
ArtScience Museum, Singapore
Hong Kong Science Museum
Our role
Graphic design & identity
Drawn animation
Artwork
Catalyst: Contemporary Art and War
IWM North's first major contemporary art exhibition featuring works from Steve McQueen, Paul Seawright, Langlands & Bell, kennardphillipps' and Ori Gersht, encompassing photography, sculpture, paintings and film installations that respond to conflict since the First Gulf War.
Referencing the IWM brand, a series of bold geometric statements were used to graphically highlight each zone. A sympathetic use of colour let the art speak for itself.
Clients
NISSEN RICHARDS Studio
Imperial War Museums
Our role
Graphic design & identity
Artwork
Performing for the King
Charles I's Royal Masques of the 17th century were the focus of this temporary exhibition at the Banqueting House, Whitehall where they were once performed.
4.6m high graphic screens interpreted the stories behind the performances and a central film projection incorporated traditional animation that brought Inigo Jones' dramatic stage machinery to life in a 'behind the scenes' montage that played between live performances.
Our role
Graphic design
Drawn animation
Artwork
Neptune Court
As part of a programme to improve access to the collection we were asked to design an on gallery interactive and four animated films to bring context to a large permanent display case of navigational instruments and Neptune Court's Great Map.
The four films introduce the character Walt who helps explain complex navigational methods and techniques, linking objects on display with the wider context of the historical building. Through trial and error Walt learns how to use an Astrolabe, how to use his body to measure, how GPS works and how to navigate without instruments in the shark infested waters of the South Pacific.
The interactive was designed to explain to a family audience how a 3D globe becomes a 2D map. Through both interpretations, visitors are invited to engage and play with the multisensory experience whilst being guided to observe specific technical objects and subject matter that can often feel out of reach or intimidating.
Our role
Animation direction
Graphic design
Character design
Sound design
Animators
Mel Northover
Norm Konyu
Filipe Alçada
Programmer
Sam Turner
Barocci: Brilliance and Grace
In his lifetime Barocci was the most celebrated artist of the generation after Leonardo and Michelangelo but today he is comparatively little-known outside his native Urbino in Italy. The exhibition was his first full-scale British show.
The display assembled the majority of Barocci’s greatest altarpieces and paintings, together with sequences of dazzling preparatory drawings, allowing visitors to understand how each picture evolved and revealing the fertility of Barocci’s imagination, the diversity of his working methods and the sheer beauty and grace of his art.
Our role
Graphic design
Marketing
Artwork
Once Upon A Wartime
This touring exhibition delves into the pages of the well-loved books below, bringing five stories of war dramatically to life.
War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden
The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall
The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier
Little Soldier by Bernard Ashley
We printed direct to a variety of materials to help distinguish between each story’s rich narrative. Including maple veneer backdrops of Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse, Stirling Board printed crumbling bricks and rubble of The Silver Sword, the ash veneer printed yew tree woods immersing the visitor in Carrie’s War and the stark contrasts of Little Soldier’s two way mirror past to present interpretation.
Client
Imperial War Museums
London and Manchester
Our role
Graphic design
Artwork
Illustration
Silver Sword Map
Illustration depicting the journey taken by the characters of Ian Serraillier's Book The Silver Sword, one of five books highlighted in the touring exhibition Once Upon A Wartime at Imperial War Museum London and North. The map was designed to incorporate light boxes and touch screen interactives within key moments in the narrative.
Client
Imperial War Museums
London and Manchester
Our role
Illustration
Please look at Exhibition and Graphic Design to
see more about this project
Renault TV
Working with design and branding agency Kemistry, this title sequence for Renault TV was designed to launch the car manufacturers' foray into broadcast.
A single line winds between and unravels into the various Renault owners and their lifestyles.
Our role
Direction
Animation
Storyboards
A Family In Wartime
A Family In Wartime tells the story of how ordinary people braved the challenges of life at home during the Second World War through the eyes of the Allpress family, who lived in Stockwell, London.
Contemporary, open room sets were designed to convey the period whilst historical imagery, printed directly to lacquered Valchromat, formed the exterior structure into which museum objects were displayed.
Our role
Exhibition design
Graphic design
Artwork
Allpress film production
Working with creative director Matt White of Supergrizzly this channel promo features characters Vi and Va appearing at different locations around the city.
Client
Smithereen
Our role
Character design
Animation
Life is Easy With Directions
How to Sumo Wrestle is one of a series of 9 traditionally animated channel idents for Discovery designed as a quirky instruction manual to help guide the audience through life's rather more unusual difficulties. Some of the rest of the series are here along with some stills and character turn arounds.
The idents were animated in pencil, scanned and composited in After Effects. Voice over talents courtesy of John Cleese.
Client
Smithereen
Our role
Animation
Character design
Outbreak 1939
Seventy years after the announcement that signified the start of the Second World War, this special exhibition explored how the conflict shaped the lives of ordinary men and women, as well as those who were actively involved in the political negotiations and their aftermath.
Historical material and personal memorabilia illustrate the build-up to and preparations for war, giving an overview of the key events of 3 September and an account of the early months of the conflict.
Drawing upon 1930’s design and architecture, walnut veneer, bespoke furniture and complementary lighting were used to create a mood reminiscent of interiors of the period. Within a small gallery, we maintained a central open space whilst also creating a more intimate, contemplative seating area offering the visitor a flexible dwell time in which to engage with the large variety of written material.
Our role
Exhibition design
Graphic design
Artwork
Tongue Tied
Nut Again
Feed Me
Ready, Steady, Slow!
A series of four traditionally animated shorts made for Simon's Cat, drawing on a Cintiq directly into Flash.
Our role
Animation
Clean up
Assistant animator (Ready, Steady, Slow!)
Kevin Richards
Music Video Big Bad Bill (is a Woolly Blue Hoodoo)
Introducing Buster Bumblechops meeting a tribe of Woolly Blue Hoodoos in this catchy music video for Moshi Monsters.
Client
Mindcandy Ltd
Our role
Character animation (clips 2-5)
For Your Eyes Only
Celebrating the centenary of Ian Fleming’s birth, For Your Eyes Only was the first major exhibition devoted to the life and work of the man who created James Bond. This fascinating exhibition showed how Fleming drew upon his wartime service in Naval Intelligence, his work as a journalist and travel writer, and his own considerable imagination to create the iconic character of James Bond. Featured material, much on display for the first time, included original manuscripts, the jacket worn by Fleming on the Dieppe Raid of 1942, the autogyro Bond uses in the film You Only Live Twice and the ‘blood-splattered’ shirt worn by Daniel Craig in Casino Royale.
Client
Imperial War Museums
Our role
Graphic design
Marketing
Artwork
Designed and directed for Bartle, Bogle and Hegarty, this online spot for Ebay brought some personality to the letters of the logo as part of its Christmas campaign.
Our role
Direction
Animation
Design
Storyboards
Nick Baker's Weird Weekend promo
Concept design and development for the animated content for this Disney Animal Planet promo. In addition to developing characters and the environment this promo required drawn animation templates which would serve as a guide for the 3D animation production. Some early animation style tests are also included here.
The promo went on to win a gold at Promax.
Client
Smithereen
Our role
Concept visuals
Character design
2D animation
Great Escapes
This hands-on interactive exhibition looked at some of the ingenious and audacious escape attempts made by Allied prisoners during the Second World War, with special features that covered The Great Escape, the Wooden Horse and Colditz Castle.
The exhibition included recently discovered artefacts from Stalag Luft III and models from Aardman's film Chicken Run.
Client
Imperial War Museums
Our role
Graphic design
Marketing
Artwork
These branded idents were produced in Flash and designed to introduce the concept of you are the controller, emphasising the use of hands as the main tool in operating the games. The characters are seen to interact with key features from the new Kinect games whilst within the CN environment.
Clients
Turner Media Innovations,
Cartoon Network
Our role
Character animation
Directed by Norm Konyu, this flash character animation was produced for Sleepio's online course designed to help you improve your sleep. Written by world sleep expert Professor Colin Espie, the course is based on proven Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) techniques and is divided into specific sections that can be tailor made to suit individuals.
Our role
Character animation
All material copyright Big Health Ltd
The Falklands
This exhibition marked the 25th Anniversary of the Falklands War, it told the individual stories behind the most recent invasion of a British territory since the Second World War.
It featured material on public display for the first time and explored the war through first-hand accounts and the personal memorabilia of those involved.
Our role
Exhibition design
Graphic design
Marketing
Artwork
Web Design
Morris and Winrow & Northover&Brown
Working with Hibbert Ralph Animation on a series of four ads outlining the bank's various financial products. Illustrations were created for the series by Alessandro Gott.
The following scenes and elements are taken from the With You All The Way (final clip below) and the Savings ads.
Client
Hibbert Ralph Animation
Our role
Character animation (clips 1-5)
