ISTD Project: Lights of Yesterday
Project Overview & Introduction
The project as one of the prompt options from the International Society of Typographic Designers for their annual membership/awards contest. I had gone with this prompt because I saw the potential to expand upon this idea and turn it into what would be the layout and blueprint for a whole exhibit on lighthouses and their humble origins as well as their transformations into their modern roles.
The goal of this project was of our own design and to design and make deliverables that could be utilized by a client for visual use for the topic that we chose. My thoughts would eventually fall onto the idea that it could be a historic museum-styled exhibit that could either have a permanent location or even be an exhibit that could travel from place to place on tour. But in order to get the project off the ground, the groundwork and the blueprint for the event and its visual identity had to be made.
Research & Development
In order to get a foothold in the scope of the project, I undertook researching more about lighthouses to get a scope of the material I could utilize in the project. This would include their visual aesthetic throughout the years as well as establishing milestones that could be used to organize the information that guests can explore. This would ultimately be divided into three sections that would make up the main exhibit, The Ancient Era, the Colonial Era, and the Modern Era where it would go over the lighthouse's primary role in today's technological age. These sections would also define the iconography as well as the design elements that would be used in each section along with the options for other museum pieces to be arranged.
After the materials and information was gathered, the floor plan was developed from there. The layout is based on the average convention center floor plan of a presentation room if the exhibit was ever on tour instead of its own building or if it was added to any nautical museums. The route consists of a front desk or table where people allow admission into the exhibit or an initial information kiosk where booklets and pamphlets could be handed out for guests to look through while they are experiencing the displays.
Project Close & Final Delivery
To have the capstone to the project after the floor plan and the wall graphics and information booklet was made, I would then decide to add a t-shirt design that could be sold in a small gift shop or booth within the exhibit to have as a souvenir for the guest's visit. This design utilized the artwork that could be used for the advertisements as well as bringing in the logo itself to maintain the merch's identity with the exhibit. Since shirts are a common piece of merchandise, it would also be an inexpensive option for merchandise that offers fair utility while opening up other possible merch avenues such as mugs and other future additions to the shop. All proceedings from the merchandise would be directed to any upkeep and maintenance to the exhibit as well as for staff wages.
All of the deliverables were then compiled together and delivered to the class instructor where we were shown how to submit it to the ISTD contest. Unfortunately, this project did not win any awards, but it gave me a reflection on what I could do to further expand on this idea and offer even more for the exhibit. Some of the possible expansions to the exhibit would include a large-scale model of a lighthouse within the modern section that has a stencil of the exhibit logo that could show a light through and rotate around onto the walls. Further expansions could be additional memorabilia that could be made like posters themed after the different parts of the exhibits to offer more options and collectability for those interested in getting more to support the exhibit or building that hosts it.