Event, the experience design agency, recently celebrated the reopening of Glasgow’s Burrell Collection, which opened its doors once more on 29 March 2022 after an extensive refurbishment.
Now the firm, which was responsible for taking this project from the overall masterplan for the renewal through to the design of the exhibitions, is taking a closer look at one of the key elements of the project: the graphics.
Taking inspiration from the iconic venue
The graphics for the revamped collection needed to be both functional and interpretive, working hand in hand with the design components of the 3D display systems to guide visitors through the collection and encourage them to see objects in new ways. Event wanted to take a multi-layered approach to the graphics, in order to stimulate deeper audience engagement, as well as to highlight diverse voices around and responses to the collection.
To begin with, the team sought inspiration from the building’s modernist architecture and its refined and limited palette, as well as from the diverse collection of objects housed within it. Colour, texture and translucency and a timeless, crisp and clean approach together compliment the style of the spaces and the qualities and presence of the collection.
The core narrative graphics maintain a clear hierarchy of information, acting as the organisational system to unify the gallery spaces. This approach fed into the approach for both the media and a series of tactile panels – both developed through the client team.
A talented team
Image and illustration are integral parts of the interpretation for all audiences – they are used to evoke an understanding of context, function, meaning and making techniques, without large amounts of text. Event worked alongside three contemporary illustrators, providing them with stories and reference images from the Burrell collection to use as inspiration to bring the objects to life and establish visual flair.
Emily Robertson’s illustrations provide a historic context to the displays, whilst also highlighting the beautiful details and textures of the objects. Her work has a storybook quality which helps to engage guests.
Meanwhile, David Sparshott created diagrammatic illustrations. These help visitors to understand object materials and the historic processes required to make them. He also produced illustrations to engage a younger audience and encourage them to look closely at object details. His reductive illustrative style allows visitors to focus on the primary details of an object, whilst conveying a sense of narrative playfulness and energy.
Finally, Lucille Clerc provided atmospheric and exquisitely detailed illustrations for the large fabric graphic banners that are suspended in the storytelling gallery, creating an immersive, fairytale book environment. She has used themes from the collections to extend the aesthetic of objects into visual journeys through place and time.
Enabling meaningful engagement
Speaking about the project, Paul Murdoch, graphic designer from Event says:
“Our aspiration was to guide visitors through this extraordinary and unexpected collection, with a distinctive yet consistent graphic language to support and enhance the existing structure and introduce new and meaningful connections between the objects and visitors.”
The Burrell Collection is an international fine and decorative art collection that includes a wide range of treasures from medieval stained glass and ancient Chinese ceramics to Islamic carpets and French paintings. It was gifted to the city by Sir William Burrell and is housed in an award-winning modernist building in Pollock Country Park in Glasgow, Scotland.
Event also recently worked with the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen to create a new exhibition, The Raid, in just 12 months. This centres around Roskilde 6, the largest Viking warship of its kind in the world.
Emily Robertson and David Sparshott are represented by Handsome Frank.
All images © CSG CIC Glasgow Museums and Collection
