The first project I had chosen to do was a redesign for a museum with a unique topic, I had chosen to do the sex museum in Amsterdam because it lacks a coherent identity through its branding. Below is the brief and some data I had collected to give context to the brief.
The main focus of this project was to;
- create a full and coherent identity
- attract a younger audience to the museum
I had started looking at the existing identity for the Sexmuseum Amsterdam Venustempel (Venustempel = The Temple of Venus = The god of love and beauty) and it doesn't stand out in slightest, their branding on their website doesn't match with their onsite branding and it feels outdated and unprofessional, and for a museum with such unique and bold material their branding doesn't match this.
Amsterdam has the highest museum density in the world with over 60 museums in the city alone, featuring all kinds of weird subject matter from The Dutch Funeral Museum to the Torture Museum, and then a range of prostitution, weed and art galleries. So my goal with the Sex Museum redesign is to create an identity which stands out to both locals and tourists.
The Sex Museum is the 7th most visited tourist destination in Amsterdam as of December 2022 with 780,000 visitors. This beats out more profound and serious museums so the identity of this museum needs to match its prestige.
Below is the existing website and some of the identity for the museum.
- create a full and coherent identity
- attract a younger audience to the museum
I had started looking at the existing identity for the Sexmuseum Amsterdam Venustempel (Venustempel = The Temple of Venus = The god of love and beauty) and it doesn't stand out in slightest, their branding on their website doesn't match with their onsite branding and it feels outdated and unprofessional, and for a museum with such unique and bold material their branding doesn't match this.
Amsterdam has the highest museum density in the world with over 60 museums in the city alone, featuring all kinds of weird subject matter from The Dutch Funeral Museum to the Torture Museum, and then a range of prostitution, weed and art galleries. So my goal with the Sex Museum redesign is to create an identity which stands out to both locals and tourists.
The Sex Museum is the 7th most visited tourist destination in Amsterdam as of December 2022 with 780,000 visitors. This beats out more profound and serious museums so the identity of this museum needs to match its prestige.
Below is the existing website and some of the identity for the museum.
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Since one of my goals is to attract a younger audience to the museum I will take this redesign down the contemporary route to not only appeal to that younger audience, but also to pull in a range of tourist and still allowing the museum to fit in with the museum culture in Amsterdam but to also fit in with Amsterdams 'ladish' culture.
I did some research into the population and tourist demographic in Amsterdam and the most populated age is 15-30 with a combined number of 210,000 people. This age range was the most densely populated which will help me target my audience for the redesign.
I had then started looking at some of the other museums in Amsterdam to see how their identities look and how they brand themselves both internally and externally.
I did some research into the population and tourist demographic in Amsterdam and the most populated age is 15-30 with a combined number of 210,000 people. This age range was the most densely populated which will help me target my audience for the redesign.
I had then started looking at some of the other museums in Amsterdam to see how their identities look and how they brand themselves both internally and externally.
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Then I looked at the Amsterdam Museum rebrand done by Studio Sallali Vaverka, I chose to look at this because I has a much more contemporary edge to it than other more classical museums.
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I had then spent some time looking at Studio Dumbar's design of the Van Gogh museum too see how one of the largest museums in Amsterdam branded themselves.
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I then started looking at internal signage for museums and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam who kept used their branding as the signage by using type to show directions.
Above is their logo
Below is their internal signage
Below is their internal signage
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I then started to thumbnail some ideas, the idea was to use hand drawn genitalia throughout the identity to allow consistency and relevance to the branding. This fits the contemporary style I'm going for as well as the overall vibe and feel of both the museums content and the city of Amsterdam in general. So I started by hand drawing a selection of genitalia in different styles and line widths to turn into vectors.
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Once I had some of the hand drawn as vectors I also made a few in a very simple shape style which I didnt like.
I then chose the best few and fixed them up a little and started playing with a colour scheme.
I then developed the idea in a boarder shape that I wanted to see how it looked, this didn't work for me thought so I chose to experiment with it more till I got it.
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I had then experimented with some more typographical treatment with a similar styling.
I really liked the one above, however I had chosen to drop the other genitalia and stick with just penises as I feel like this is the best approach as it feels comical yet still contemporary and relevant, but with having vaginas and tits on it felt more vulgar and dirty than I wanted.
Below I had came up with an approach with I thought was not only more appropriate but also felt more contemporary and fit better overall, the penises where visible but also acted as contemporary shapes in the background of the design. I also tried a more neutral nude colour scheme but that didn't work.
Below I had came up with an approach with I thought was not only more appropriate but also felt more contemporary and fit better overall, the penises where visible but also acted as contemporary shapes in the background of the design. I also tried a more neutral nude colour scheme but that didn't work.
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I spent some time working on a colour scheme with I felt fit more with the vibe I was going for and It works really well.
I had also then tried this colour scheme on the other design idea to see how that worked.
In my research I found the countries who visit Amsterdam the most and had added the title of the museum in their language to enhance accessibility in the design.
I had started finalising the identity for the museum before I chose to move onto design some exhibitions for the museum to help push and show content to the branding. I had chosen to do one exhibit on how penis drawings have changed overtime so I got some names for this exhibit listed below;
Below are some brief website pages to help me along with the process of creating a website for the museum.
- "Phallic Expressions: A Journey Through the History of Penis Drawings"
- "Drawing the Line: An Exhibit on the Art and Culture of Phallic Imagery"
- "The Phallus in Art: From Ancient Times to Modern Obsessions"
- "From Sketch to Sensation: Tracing the History of Penis Drawings"
- "Ink and Erection: An Exploration of the Evolution of Penis Drawings"
- "Beyond the Veil: Uncovering the Meaning of Phallic Art"
- "Penis Chronicles: Documenting the History of Phallic Imagery in Art"
- "The Male Member on Paper: A Visual History of Penis Drawings"
- "Shades of Phallus: An Exhibit on the Use of Penis Drawings in Different Cultures"
- "Unleashing the Phallus: A Collection of Penis Drawings from Around the World"
Below are some brief website pages to help me along with the process of creating a website for the museum.
I then did a few different website layouts and styling to see what I liked and what worked and didn't.
The next part of the project was to create an exhibition for the museum, so I went with 'ink and erection' An exploration of the evolution of penis drawings.
Following on from some feedback it was suggested that I try and reposition my approach to the overall branding and icon style as it felt repetitive, so I created a new suit of icons below which focus on the topic of 'sex' in general.
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I then spent some time refining the website as well as creating a working mockup of it in action.
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As a fun and interactive way to attract viewers I came up with the idea to have the public design the icons which are used throughout the branding, so It can be done digitally or on paper, they get a template and are encouraged to draw whatever crude and sex related object or image they please, then they can scan the QR Code and be able to submit it online, from there if it gets picked it will be used through the identity, either on the logo, advertising, print products, exhibitions or more. This gives an incentive to attract them to the museum to see if they can spot their drawing anywhere.
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After receiving some feedback on the final presentation below I have made all the changes that was suggested. Starting with the interactive element where people can draw their own, it was suggested that the text on it didn't address a non design audience so I changed that.
Next was to add a logo to the advertising billboards which I've done below.
Following this it was to rethink the exhibit branding billboards and try with just one icon on the branding.
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Next was the intro sign to the banner, it was said it had too much text on it so I changed it to the styling that's used on the other exhibit cause that was told it was more successful.
After this it was suggested to scrap the 'Ink and Erection' exhibit and to focus more on way finding and branding for the actual museum itself.
It was also suggested to give the condoms more content to make the look more realistic. When researching condoms they don't tend to have any kind of design on the back of the wrapper, normally just a lot number, an expiration date and sometimes a manufactured date.
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Revision 2
After more feedback from billy I was given some more points to make feedback on.
The first was to name the colours, so below I have named the colours and made them relevant to the Sex Museum.
After more feedback from billy I was given some more points to make feedback on.
The first was to name the colours, so below I have named the colours and made them relevant to the Sex Museum.
The next part of my feedback was to retry the branding advertising and see what It looked like without the penis on it, as well as to see if I can experiment with type to get my point across.
The next issue to address was the punctuation on my advertising, so I removed some of the caps that weren't needed.
