Examples of Visual Communication: Gallery Task

Museums & Galleries are some of the best examples of visual communication, having to effectively communicate a range of visual stimulants to a wide audience. I have assessed three venues in Central Leeds on how they communicate.

Leeds City Art Gallery
Leeds City Art Gallery hosts one of the best collections of 20th century art in the UK outside London. To make the most of this, the gallery keeps each room spacious to enable space for the art to breathe, and space for the viewer to roam. A small space typically only has 2 pieces (such as the first room in the Northern Art Prize Exhibition), although other spaces pack more in. The greatest anomaly here is the 20th century painting room where large paintings are clustered on the walls and mounted on a dark blue background. I can only assume blue has been chosen to create the image of royalty against the elaborate golden frames. In most galleries, the work is aligned horizontal and centrally.

All labels use Helvetica in 14pt. There is no hierarchy- the viewer must determine the order based on the spacing as a blank line is left between the title and the body text. All text is left aligned and mounted on foamboard.

Direction signposts are often on glass totems. An employee of the gallery was unable to tell me the font used on the signs themselves, but it is similar to Franklin Gothic Demi. I suspect the font has been specifically edited for use by the City Council (who run the gallery).

In the Northern Art Prize exhibition, vinyl text had been applied directly to the walls. It was at an adult's eye level. Some objects were on aqua coloured plinths- I'm not sure why; I personally disliked them.

I am not afraid to criticise Leeds City Art Gallery. The building is not suitable for a modern art gallery- which is of course not the fault of the art gallery. Unfortunately the building, which is currently being renovated, is small and is an awkward layout. It results in a few awkward arrangements having to be made in a rather piecemeal way.

The art gallery is clearly aiming at an adult audience on the whole, although a specifically designed kids area demonstrates their open attitude to families too.

Henry Moore Institute
The Henry Moore Institute is much better curated than the art gallery. There are two important differences between this and the art gallery. The first is that the institute has been specifically designed for the display of modern art sculptures. While small, it is much better laid out. The second is that it is privately owned and so does not adhere to the uniform design standards of council venues.

I'm not sure of the typeface used, but it looked very similar to Futura- and again in 14pt. The pieces were aligned centrally, and everything displayed upon brilliant white surfaces.

The institute had a block of introductory text on arrival on the left wall. It was arranged in two columns with typically ten words per column.

Leeds City Museum
Leeds City Museum was converted into a museum from the former Civic Theatre. It houses some great exhibitions, although I feel the central arena space is hugely wasted at the moment.

I focused on the Leeds Story though. This is the largest exhibition- and probably the one of most interest to most visitors to the museum. Walking round, it was clear that the exhibition was aimed at people who knew little about the city of Leeds. Some extra details in place would have been of local interest though.

The way one is led through the exhibition has been swapped since I last went when it opened. The type in the city museum was identical to the directional signage in the City Art Gallery- they are both owned by the council. Text was however displayed on boards that typically were white on dark blue. A light blue strip was provided on the top or left of the boards (whichever was shorter on that board). Most labels were relatively low down, enabling children to read them. Some panels were displayed in cabinets.

A huge amount of information is hidden in mock exhibits, meaning the museum is very hands-on. There are a range of touch screens, although the design of them is poor and confusing. There are large images such as the 'Mapping Leeds' image that are of interest to adults and children alike.

Legible Type

http://www.colourlovers.com/web/blog/2010/03/11/calculating-color-contrast-for-legible-text

Colour Lovers, a organisation I follow on Twitter, did a report on contrasting colours and what is best for text. The text helped to inform me of the colour choice for the application.

My decision has partly been based on other examples of visual communication. I looked at two of the most high profile examples of visual communication, in scenarios where the information needs to be conveyed quickly and easily.

Legible London (which has also come to Leeds) was designed by the Applied Information Group and implemented by Transport for London. It features deep yellow headings in uppercase on a navy blue background. Striking yellow tops catch the eye, similar to those on the totems at Leeds City Museum. The font is in uniform with the rest of TfL, New Johnston. Less important information is in white.

Another example that informed me was Network Rail signage. Network Rail own all stations in the UK, but manage/operate the 18 busiest. They have adopted a very similar signage to Legible London, based on their own research that showed the majority of people responded fastest to yellow on dark blue signage. The example on the right at Leeds City Station demonstrates: