BRIEF 04: MUSEUM OF CHILDHOOD//DESIGN DEVELOPMENT//OUGD603

museum of childhood exhibition publication : design development
When I had thought about the concept behind the design of this publication (framed narrative) I started looking at layout and what kind of style I want the publication to take.  I think the type of frames I've collected and scanned for the publication would suit a serif type more so, a more traditional take.

My initial idea, once coming up with the concept of a framed narrative was to simply place the typed memory in the centre of the frame and to have the frame sit in the centre of the page.  However, something didn't quite work with this design on a visual level.  I didn't really like the overall aesthetic and so had to start playing around with layout in order to make the design idea fit with the actual design.  This was something I was slightly happier with, I actually preferred to place the text outside of the frame but then that would completely go against the framed narrative concept.

I also numbered and titled each memory, then playing around with where I could position the heading for each page, because I quite liked having the same frame without any writing placed in it I thought giving the second frame some purpose, such as numbering the memory inside the area may benefit the design slightly.  I also looked at how placing the memory title at the top of the frame would change the layout and if this could work.

Playing around with the visual of the frames, I think one frame allows the design to be too plain, especially as most of the memories aren't actually very long in terms of word count.  As the book is thirty pages long I don't think I have collected enough frames for their to be a visual on each page, so in terms of layout, I have arranged it as it appears on the left hand side.

Some of the memories are a lot longer than others so arranging the text to fit in a way thats going to suit the layout of the book is something I need to think about.  I quite like having some type out of the frame as I think this fills out the white space a little more, and makes it look less plain/empty.

I also feel theres quite a lot of white space on each page, I feel as though theres too much white space on certain pages and so doubling the imagery of the frame would allow less space, think it makes the design look slightly more finished.

After looking at this publication for a while I feel like its starting to look slightly like 'the collected writings of Rosy Lee.'  After realising this I asked for some feedback, however according to feedback it didn't look similar enough to change, you could see that they were similar styles but it didn't look too similar.  The typefaces are of a similar style that allows the design to have a certain look about it.  I think I might change the italicised writing within the frame as I think this is something that shows big similarities between the two.

front cover design:

For the front cover I thought it would be good to try and get a few scans of the frames as a collective, as I think they make quite good visuals.  The front cover will will have the following information:

The museum of childhood presents....

A framed narrative exhibition

a collection of childhood memories

date of the exhibition / place ?

This is a similar layout to the actual pages in the publication, however I think I prefer the text being centrally aligned, at least for the front cover.  The one on the left frames the corners of the page 

 This is the type placed in the frames, which is fitting for the exhibition title, however I think the layout works better when text is placed around the frames as opposed to inside.

Title page and explanation of exhibition in catalogue:

cover introduction:

V & A museum of childhood presents the exhibition 'A Framed Narrative: A collection of Childhood Memories.'  The exhibition consists of a collection of Childhood memories gathered over time from the public, allowing the viewer to get a small segment of a strangers past.  The exhibition takes you on a nostalgic narrative journey.  Relatable, humorous and reminiscent of childhood, a memorable experience to be had.

New passage for the re written brief:

The brief is to design a publication that encompasses the content of a proposed exhibition curated by the Museum of Childhood.  The proposed exhibition will focus on Childhood memories.  The publication should display/give an idea of what the exhibition is and should basically look to sum up the content of the exhibition in print format.  In terms of distribution the publication would either be sold in the museum shop or be given out as part of the exhibition.

Originally when first writing up this brief the intended outcome was to rebrand the museum, however with my practice becoming more focused in second term and wanting to focus predominantly on publication design I decided to rewrite the brief in accordance to this, calling the new brief 'A Framed Narrative.'

Before focusing the exhibition