PACIFIC WORLDS
May 30, 2015–January 3, 2016
PACIFIC WORLDS was a 7,200-square-foot exhibit that examined the deep and many-layered histories of this region’s interactions with the Pacific, and explored the ongoing connections between Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians, along with Filipinos, Native Californians, and American collectors and colonists.
PACIFIC WORLDS was the recipient of AAM's 2016 Excellence in Exhibitions Award, with Special Achievement in Contextualizing Collections with the Community. The exhibit also received Honorable Mention for Community Engagement, Charles Redd Center for Western Studies Award for Exhibition Excellence, Western Museums Association.
I served as the lead graphic designer on the project, providing the brand identity, large format graphics, custom maps, advertising, and marketing collateral. Amanda Boesen was responsible for most in-gallery graphic design.
Creative Direction | Identity + Mark | Graphic Design | Cartography
IN GALLERY
The curatorial edict for the mark was that it feel contemporary yet classic. South Seas clichés were to be avoided, and the perspectives of our community advisors needed to be addressed. The primary lettering is a heavily customized rendering of Adobe's Cronos, designed by Robert Slimbach. The curves and terminals were streamlined. A key feature is the reach of the "f" which is echoed in the "R" below. This signifies the seafaring culture of Pacific Islanders, and suggests carved blades, a canoe hull, and fishhooks. In a nod to the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition (featured in the exhibit), the secondary serif lettering is based on P22's Parrish Roman.
The mark is featured in dimensional lettering at the gallery's outer entrance, and in interior mural graphics.
Custom tapa pattern based on actual samples, designed as a motif for the entry lobby.
On this exhibit, my design responsibilities in-gallery were primarily cartographic. Here a master map of the Pacific Ocean identifies those places and peoples explored throughout PACIFIC WORLDS. The large Bay Area map adjacent demonstrates the significant connection Pacific Islanders have to California.
Additional smaller maps throughout the exhibit help tell different aspects of the PACIFIC WORLDS story.
All panels were set in Adobe's Cronos, designed by Robert Slimbach.
Bold color options contrast content sections from one another, and provide the proper celebratory tone and vibrancy for these various Pacific Island cultural practices. Large photographic murals cover many of the gallery spaces.
CAMPAIGN & COLLATERAL
The marketing campaign for the exhibit centered on a man covered in tattoo art from Huahine, Leeward Islands, French Polynesia. The emphasis in tight cropping and focus conveyed both the personal aspects of the exhibit, and the intrigue of the cultural objects and practices on display.
Our community advisors played a role in determining the subject's authenticity, and that he be presented in accordance with the overall values of the exhibit.
The characteristics of the mark interplay well with the tattoos. Across formats and mediums, a wide variety of close crops were explored, so that the public never quite saw the man twice in the same way.
The exclusive Donor Forum invitation featured a spot varnish treatment on the tattoo art of the hero image.
The exhibit t-shirt combined the mark with custom illustrations by Fijian tattoo artist Lomani Gaunavinaka.
For the 100th anniversary of the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, the Oakland Museum of California was invited to participate along with many other Bay Area cultural institutions in a weekend celebration at the Palace of Fine Arts. Using vintage ephemera from collections as a basis, this limited edition poster was designed and given out to visitors.