CHILDREN'S CREATIVITY MUSEUM
AREAS OF INTEREST • Branding, Logo Design, Wayfinding, Experiential/Exhibition Design, Motion Graphics
TOOLS • Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, After Effects, Figma
INFO • During my internship at the TBD* design agency, I was paired with fellow student Carolyn Kim to work directly with the San Francisco-based nonprofit Children's Creativity Museum. We worked directly with executive director Carol Tang and exhibit manager Henry Halkyard to do a "soft" rebrand of the museum, create a more cohesive branding system, make a wayfinding system to make the museum easier to navigate, and create a map of the museum to give out to visitors. After this project, Carol and Henry were so impressed with our work that they decided to hire both of us as design fellows for the following summer to continue working on our project.
CCM wasn't exactly sure what they needed design-wise, so they left the project very open-ended and let us decide what would benefit the museum most. We did a few weeks of extensive brand analysis and research, and decided to develop a comprehensive, research-informed systematic approach that touched on all of the CCM's needs and everything Carolyn and I found necessary to expand.
We first did a brand analysis of CCM's current identity and tried to identify the brand's attributes and how they should be represented. They had a unique position in the competitive landscape, and we wanted to make sure our designs spoke to that.
We decided to create a five-point approach to this project wherein each point informed the next to create a cohesive, expansive system that the Children’s Creativity Museum can use in all of its design operations.
1. We started by redesigning and reformatting CCM’s existing critters by giving them defined purposes as brand elements; we assigned each critter to an exhibit to expand on the museum’s wayfinding, branding consistency, and color coordination, which defined how we approached the rest of our design work. We also created two new critters and personalities (Fwip and Telbi) to fit the amount of exhibits in the museum.
2. We then refreshed CCM’s branding to reflect its core values and emphasize purpose by ensuring each element of the system is cohesive and necessary. We added two new colors to their branding for the two new critters.
3. After that, we formatted the map as a creative & interactive touchpoint to enhance navigating the in-person experience and we applied our design as a tactile, three-dimensional experience to promote a better understanding of the museum.
4. We then improved wayfinding through a new signage system and applying visual cues onto physical spaces and structures. We mocked up our ideas to portray how they might be implemented realistically.
5. We developed some additional collateral that the museums needed that defined how our system would be employed and expanded in the future. The museum expressed a desire for a looping video to play on the TV above the front desk to grab the attention of museum-goers, so we created a motion graphic to serve this purpose. We also created a rack card for the museum to display at events, which included the development of a map to indicate where the museum is.
