V&A

LOGO
 

To me, the logo for the Victoria and Albert Museum is like a jewel. It is like a precious gem that is kept - floating above a small velvet cushion, glowing slightly - in a small Plexiglas box. I suspect, in some way, this is exactly the reaction the designer was aiming for, because that is just the sort of object the V&A would have inside. The V&A is all about the details of things, the embellishments of the world, and what are serifs if not embellishments? We clearly don't need them as evidenced by sans serif typefaces, so step 1 of the design: choose font, passes with flying colors. In addition, the artistically contrasting weights add an emphasis on design, they also reflect the intricacy of pieces in the collection. When I saw this logo a couple years ago I found it incredibly legible, and I didn't even realize how much of the 'A' was actually missing. I think this relates, again, very well to the museum's collection; the deceptive simplicity of some decorative arts, or how effortless the artisans make their art look. The mark is clever and straightforward at the same time, and I think this gives the logo and the museum a lot of power, and visitors can bring this energy with them inside the museum. In terms of architecture, I think the logo relates well to the galleries, which have some extra ornamentation past the actual works of art. The logo perhaps does not completely reflect the exterior of the building, both certainly feel very Victorian stylistically giving them a strong bond, but the exterior is incredibly ornate whereas the logo is more streamlined. Certainly there is a line you have to draw in creating a clear identity but I wonder if these things could be related more, perhaps simply through color to connect more explicitly with the exterior.

CAST COURTS

Walking into the Cast Courts I was kind of blown away, which is honestly not something that happens to me often in museums. The first room I walked into was the room with Trajan's Column, a sculpture that I really like, and in Rome it can only be viewed from a distance so I was excited to get up close to something I could easily pretend was the real thing. The Cast Courts also give the impression that you are getting a behind the scenes tour of the museum because of the warehouse-like feel, created by the cavernous-ness and fullness of the space. These two rooms are a really unique opportunity for people living in London or visiting London to get exposure to artworks from all Italy, Spain, and Northern Europe. The Cast Courts provide free access to master works and minor works from different periods and places if you do not have the luxury of travel, or the luxury of lots of traveling because to see all these pieces would be a fair bit of work. Although the pieces look very realistic (I assume, except Trajan's Column, which had to be displayed in two parts) I would think they are not meant to replace the real objects, but to provide a sense of them and encourage an interest in the arts, and a desire to visit anything that speaks to them. The dilemma that these casts are very convincing but are not real is reflected in the layout of the rooms; by filling the rooms, objects close together you are constantly reminded these are just to give a sense of the real object, they are not given the breathing space for reverence and reflection like the original artworks.

ISOTYPE

The icons in the Isotype exhibit in the V&A certainly have more personality than the international system of signs, or, they seem to have more personality because we have been conditioned to understand the international system with zero thought, almost not even see the icons. Both systems have their own distinct personalities, though the international system is plainer and requires only one color - any color for the positive shape, and the negative space can be transparent/empty - so in comparison the icons in the exhibit are more exciting to look at. These icons often use a few colors, necessary because they are more complex since they intend to convey more information. Several of the pages the images were very large and the explanatory text was very small in comparison which seem to test the limits of legibility to me, and also some of the posters looked very complex and I could not find a point of entry. But overall it is helpful to have imagery along with text, and definitely more appealing; normally I would not spend several minutes looking at a page of statistics or instructions unless I need to, but these are fun to look at. The style of these particular drawings feel very specific to Constructivism so they might look odd to people not familiar with the style. I find the icons in the exhibit really fun to look at, there is a lot of visual interest, I saw many of the scenes as puzzles that were actually kind of funny to interpret. The blockiness of the forms and text also looked a little childish to me, for example the key to the leprosy chart looked like a page from a childrens book. 

PATTERN

The piece I chose in the Islamic Middle East collections is a large ceramic panel that came from the tomb of Buyanquli Khan, a great mausoleum made for a descendant of Genghis Khan. I was attracted to this piece for it's bright color and strong geometric pattern. I found the ceramics in this room impressive, but most of the decoration on the vases and bowls are very flat, this panel had so much depth in comparison with the deep channels that always surround the ribbon of white that bounces around the rectangle, and the deep purple braided border. This piece is also notable because it at first looks very firm and geometric since the white is so dominant, but on further inspection you realize the interior spaces are very organic, filled with swirling flower-like lines. There is a pattern at work, but the panel also looks sort of random and effortless, like a bolt of lightning ricocheting around inside a metal box. The white also provides some simplicity to prevent the enclosed spaces from being too overwhelming in their intricacy. The piece I chose in the Ironwork collections is a piece of grille from a 17th century German church, possibly part of a tabernacle that would hold the host wafers. In contrast to the Middle East collection where I was attracted to a large and bold piece, in the Ironwork collection I was drawn to this piece for it's subtlety. Many of the pieces I was seeing were all iron, I liked that this piece had beautifully faded gilt, giving it some color interest. The two main differences between these pieces are their sizes and religious connections, connections that are not present in the ceramic piece as it is pure pattern with no focus, and in the iron the religious aspect is hard to see at first but forms the focal point of the grille. Another difference between the two pieces is the difference of depth. The grille is super flat, the only inkling of depth are the thin engraved lines. The similarity I find most interesting between these two pieces are the swirling lines that culminate in circles are very related, despite being from faraway places. This organic type of flowery pattern seems fairly common, but always looks fresh to me.

UNDERGROUND

The Madison Metro system has basically no personality, especially in comparison to the system in London. There has been some effort to liven up the bus stops in Madison on State Street and around the capitol by replacing them with more modern vessels with sauna-inspired wood benches and arched roofs - as far as I know everywhere else the bus shelters remain plain, soul-sucking places. There is the issue of climate, which I suppose is why the shelters in Madison are larger and more enclosed clunky spaces whereas the London shelters have only three walls, and are narrower, allowing their presence to fit into the environment and not clutter it. The signs for the stops: both have the same key features, the transport logo, with the numbers of the relevant lines underneath. The numbers in Madison are all squashed together, and the double digit lines run together looking line one line that is called 47,565,758. On the other end of the spectrum the London signs show each line distinctly and sometimes offer extra info like if the bus runs 24 hours, or only at night. The London signs also make the logo much larger, so the logo by itself functions as the focal point to identify the presence of a stop, in Madison the logo looks like an afterthought and we just use the presence of a blue rectangle to identify the stop. The logos also show the level of design that went into each system, the Madison Metro logo feels devoid of any flavor, purpose, or relation to the city. The London Transport logo feels at home in this setting, and related to the classic but avant-garde style of London. Perhaps because this is a larger city they put more emphasis on clarity, because the Madison system requires a lot of knowledge to decipher. Here, you need only look at the signpost to know where you are - they include the stop name on the sign - and what direction the buses will go - they include later stops. Continuing in their pursuit for greater clarity, the maps in the bus stops in London only show the lines that run from that stop, while the maps in Madison always show all the lines, making them such a headache to decipher.

OBJECT OF APPRECIATION

My favorite object (so far) from the V&A is a book by Wang Xu, published about 10 years ago in Beijing. The piece is called Creative Characters, the description says it is a "collection of vernacular typographical works originating from rural China." I'm not sure how the pages on display are typographical - but I also have no knowledge of Asiatic languages - the book just caught my eye. I was very drawn in by several qualities: the large size, the binding, the vivid red prints, and the ink-stained edges. I would return to see this piece to appreciate the fine details in each print, which cannot be fully appreciated from my photos, to try to understand the binding technique, and also to see if the display pages are ever changed. I like to look at the object and imagine what it would feel like to hold, to feel the paper, to turn the pages, and to inspect the binding.

Science Museum

LOGO

The logo for the Science Museum is a good example of what a text-only logotype should be like; the type work is unique enough to stand alone without needing any additional imagery. I really enjoy the work done on rebranding the museum and the museum's logo. The logo, like the Science Museum, may seem to target children at first glance - and it probably would be appealing to kids, conjuring images of sci-fi adventures and new technology, representative of their generation - but there is also a sophistication to the mark that I think would make it appeal to adults inviting them to visit without fearing embarrassment for being in the Science Museum sans children. The simple act of condensing the mark by stacking the letters adds a very scientific feel to me, and makes me imagine it as a microchip, a double helix, or a microscope. This logo relates very well to the mission and content of the Science Museum, the tech-y and brainy looking letterforms reflect the varied scientific subject matter, and the style brings to mind nostalgia for the history of science as well as the promises of the future of science. In addition, both the logo and the museum's content reflect the mission to make something complex accessible to people of all ages and education levels.

NAVIGATION

I had some problems navigating the Science Museum, and I was alone, in a situation where visitors will often be dealing with small children clear directions are crucial. If the goal of the Science Museum is just to have people wander through the museum leisurely, then the current system is effective in it's minimalism. If, however, visitors should be able to easily find specific exhibits I think the signage was very lacking. I don't think I saw many if any signs listing directions to multiple exhibits, which would have been very helpful. It seemed to me there was just one path per floor and that was to go through each exhibit one after another. This is perhaps a structural problem since the museum is like a huge loft because of the long and narrow footprint. The map is adequate and is a helpful supplement, especially considering the lack of signage in the museum. The colors are a fun way to distinguish the floors, helping the overall legibility, but is still somewhat cost-effective (also using uncoated stock) and thankfully free. The small icons of attractions are an attempt to add more interest to the map, and are effective in more open spaces but they are also squeezed in other places adding some confusion. My biggest problem was getting to the Wellcome Wing, which is not accessible from the first or second floors, a fact that should have been made clearer in the museum and on the map. Overall although I was trying to follow the map during my visit I just felt like I was wandering while in the museum and never knew quite where things were, or what the main attractions were.

SHOP / CAFE

The shop and cafe, much like the first couple floors of the museum, were very representative of the new concept for the Science Museum, modern with tech-y flair. It is pretty continuous style-wise with the entry of the museum and other title walls; large format text in their unique font is a reoccurring theme in the museum especially combined with a smaller running band of text, all made of steel. The store was very large and had a wide range of products, the lights added a lot of excitement to the space. I found the products that specifically related to the museum to be most interesting, and even considered buying a Science Museum t-shirt. Otherwise the products in the store are largely directed at children, with brightly colored gadgets and gizmos. I think they could increase the number of products appealing to adults to reflect this portion of the visitors, like tote bags and umbrellas, even really modern jewelry? This could increase the cache of the store and museum. I enjoyed the look of the main cafe and especially the sign with the cafes name Revolution Cafe on it, the way the n in Revolution was also used as the c in cafe. I thought that small moment was representative of the new style of the museum as modern with simple and clever twists. The cafe space was more intriguing with the stretched lights wall covering, I also thought the communal tables fit perfectly with the mission and atmosphere of the museum as a shared resource and a place with no boundaries.

DISPLAY CASES


The Science Museum faces some dilemmas when it comes to display cases, they want to make any objects as accessible as possible but some things need to be protected from visitors and perhaps climate controlled. I saw this problem dealt with especially well in the Measuring Time exhibit. In this exhibit the objects, ranging in size from small to large were all together in one large case, eight feet tall from the floor; then there was a monitor nearby with images of all the objects that you could click on to see close-ups and also to get more information. These large displays contrasted well with other displays in the museum, they are perhaps more casual and inviting to look at than the cases with things lined up perfectly straight one after another. Since the former displays might be hard to decipher the computer interaction helped clarify them, while the latter cases had either individual explanation plates or the objects were numbered and there was a grouped explanation panel. 

Occasionally objects went unprotected, but this was mostly for non one of a kind things - like the wall of samples in the Challenge of Materials exhibit - and other things done specially for museum interaction. Then there were the very large objects that would be difficult to enclose like cars and tractors. These things, newer than say the birthing chairs from hundreds of years ago, do not need extensive protection so the difficulty of enclosure is moot.  

EXHIBITS

I enjoyed several parts of the Science Museum, but my favorite exhibit was Measuring Time. This was a rather small exhibit and not very flashy. The space was long and narrow; as it was on the first floor, the exhibit was bordered on one side by an atrium opening to the ground floor, and on the other by a row of windows high up on the wall. These aspects gave the space a very light, airy, and open quality as opposed to other rooms in the museum that I found very stuffy even if they had high ceilings. The mood I get from a space has a great impact on my reaction and this space just felt comfortable and inviting to me, causing me to linger instead of rush through. The display accompaniments I mentioned above - touch screens depicting the display cases- were intriguing to me, as werr the objects. Old sundials and hourglasses are very beautiful and I find the concept of time measurement interesting. The interactive features I encountered were fun but maybe too juvenile sometimes so I sort of welcomed more traditional, well-done, exhibits like this one. This exhibit also has the most accurate clock in Britain(?), so I set my watch. I also liked the Veterinary History exhibit, this one purely because of content. This floor was clearly an example of the money running out, but there was some interesting content, I think old science that seems absurd today can be fascinating. 

FACTS

One of my best learning experiences in the Science Museum was actually one of these juvenile activities I mentioned above. In the Energy exhibit there was a Price Is Right style wheel that had pictures instead of monetary values, and you would use the pictures to answer questions about energy efficiency. I learned that using the microwave uses less energy than the oven, that England could begin to be underwater by 2030, and that dying fabric dark colors requires more dye than light colors and so more water is tainted in the process.