Serious Play Exhibition
Play as a catalyst for creativity in mid-century modern design
Client
Denver Art Museum
Opened
Spring 2019
Team
Graphic design art direction
by Cassandra Cortez Gerardo
in collaboration with:
Studio Joseph (exhibition design), and McGinty Co. (graphics production design)
“I would say that’s the whole spirit of the exhibition, allowing for open-ended play. Having moments to play and sort of interact throughout the exhibition were really important to us.”
Background
The Denver Art Museum needed exhibition design and graphics for its exhibition Serious Play, which presented more than 250 imaginative works by 40 designers in the post-WWII era.
Photo of finished exhibition.
Challenge
Studio Joseph worked on the structural design of the exhibition while I worked on the exhibition graphics art direction. Serious Play spanned three themes: The American Home, Child’s Play, and Corporate Approaches. While the structural elements remained a consistent narrative thread throughout the show, the graphics needed to communicate the different curatorial themes for each gallery.
Early sketches of how the three themes could be distinct yet work together as a system
Early elevation from “The American Home” gallery
The exhibition was housed in the museum’s iconic Frederic C. Hamilton Building. This posed a design challenge because the heights of the walls varied as well as their angular forms with none of them intersecting at 90-degree angles.
Installed exhibition.
The curatorial and design teams wanted visitors to explore how the concept of play might fuel their own creativity. I pulled graphic inspiration from a wide array of Midcentury textiles, furniture, toys, advertising, and experimental corporate collateral. The result was a set of lively and whimsical graphics that add a playful element to the exhibition experience without overpowering the vivid items on display.