Cop2 Practical - Design Development 1

Considering my research into supergraphics, and my initial ideas, I decided to look into the use of colour. Research into existing supergraphics on buildings showed that using colour can make a building stand out from its surroundings, and is a great design tool for drawings peoples attention.

When considering colour, I didn't want to simply choose any colour that was bright ad would grab attention. As the brief asks to strengthen the identity of the museum, I thought the use of colour for the exterior graphics could utilise some of the existing colour schemes within the museums branding. I looked at the images I had taken whilst at the museum, the colour schemes they used for their Wayfinding and banners, to get an idea of their current colour scheme, and how I could reinforce it with my exterior graphics designs.

I experimented with the colours on my illustrations. As the illustrations represent different galleries within the museum, I thought I could utilise colour to highlight the distinctions even more. 

Colours derived from museum's wayfinding.

Colours derived from museum's banners.

As the galleries within the museum are distributed only in 4 out of 6 floors, I found that linking the colour scheme with the Wayfinding system only gave me 3 colours to work with. This did not provide a clear distinction between the different galleries, but actually made the illustrations seem confusing as the viewer would not understand why the 'oriental' illustrations are in the same colour group as the 'self-defence' illustrations. 

Colours derived from the museum's banners, however, proved far more effective. The colours distinguished the 'oriental' gallery and the 'hall of steel', but grouped 'self-defence' and 'hunting', and 'war' and 'tournament'. These groupings are a lot more appropriate and make sense. The colour pallet also extends into 4 colours instead of one, which makes the visual story more interesting.

I tested the colours and illustrations against a grey background. This was because the exterior/architecture of the museum has grey walls, and as I am designing graphics that could be applied to the existing structure, testing my designs against a grey background allows me to gain somewhat of an idea of how they might look in reality against the concrete grey walls of the building.

I decided to experiment with colour further, by assigning a different colour to each gallery, to distinguish and highlight the difference even more. I found that although this was effective, the colour scheme mow became over-crowded and too complex. It would take the audience too much concentration and effort to memorise/remember what each of the 6 colours represent, and would become too much of a hassle for them. Also, this introduces colours to the museum that don't already exist in their branding, which would cause an issue between the cohesion of the exterior and interior.

Assigning different colours for each gallery.

Assigning 4 colours between all galleries, grouping 'war' and 'tournament', and 'self-defence' and 'oriental'.

I realised that the grouping of 'oriental' and 'self-defence' was inappropriate, so this was later changed into 'oriental' standing on its own, and 'self-defence' and 'hunting' being grouped. 

I briefly looked at how the illustrations would be without outline colours, and found that against the grey background, which represents the concrete building wall, the illustrations would not stand out as much and their details would fade. This is why I choose to keep the white outlines on all illustrations.

After all my experiments and considerations, the colour scheme I decided to go with was the one influenced by the banners within the museum. These colours are: green for the 'Oriental' Gallery, Blue for the 'Self-defence' and 'Hunting' Galleries, Purple for the 'War' and 'Tournament' Galleries and Yellow/Orange for the 'Hall of Steel' Gallery.

I went on to colour in all the illustrations I had created according to this colour scheme.
The repetition I have created for each illustration derives from the 'Hall of Steel' Gallery. It is not like this throughout the museum, however, the 'Hall of Steel' Gallery is arguably the most impressive and memorable part of the museum. That's why I thought it would be impactful if the other illustrations followed this same repetitive pattern. This would intrigue people who have not visited the museum before as it would make them question why each illustration is repeated, and also make the one's who have visited the museum feel special and appreciative, as they are able to understand the idea behind the repetition. The repetitive illustration idea could easily become somewhat iconic for the building, just as the 'Hall of Steel' Gallery has.