Tag Archives: Museum of Reading
Reading Detectives
Although my subsequent career has taken me in another direction, early on my focus was on book design for children. Ever since I got involved with Two Rivers, I wanted to publish a book for children with the press. Imagine my delight when we were approached by history teacher Kerry Renshaw whose fond memories of the I-Spy series inspired him to write his own version to help children uncover the hidden history to be found on the streets of Reading.
Now imagine my disappointment when things went a little crazy for me and I had to delegate to another designer, although I still managed to fit in the cover design.
I also designed a certificate given out to children who completed one of the walking trails in the book on the day of its launch at the Museum of Reading. The launch, incidentally, was a little crazy in its own right in that the books arrived from the printers literally minutes before the kids trooped in.
We went to the wire, but I went back to my roots, and the book did well in sales. Happy end.
Bikes, Balls & Biscuitmen
The World in Reading
The World in Reading is a thematic introduction to the rich and diverse collection at Reading Museum. The brief for this museum guide was to conveys the sense of inspiration and enjoyment that can be derived from studying and handling real objects, whether they relate to Reading’s local historical and natural environment or other cultures around the world.
The design combines a contemporary palette, clean sans serif and flexible grid to show off the collection at Reading. Juxtaposition of different image treatments provides variety of colour, texture, shape, and scale.
The cover illustrates the breadth of the Museum collection and provides ‘teasers’ which hint at the treasures to be discovered.
Colour, collage and constructions
Design work for this exhibition of the joyful and vibrant work of British abstract artist Terry Frost at the Museum of Reading included an advertisement in the Royal Academy Magazine, exhibition poster, events programme, private view invitation card, catalogue and gallery interpretation panel.
Close liaision with museum staff, photographers, and printers was essential to ensure a high-quality finish and accurate colour reproduction of the works in print.
The epic scale of the works on show is reflected in the catalogue, where each work takes up a whole page, while relative sizes are maintained as much as possible. The square format of the catalogue caters for both portrait and landscape images.
