MESSENGERS FROM THE MANTLE
MESSENGERS FROM THE MANTLE
MESSENGERS FROM THE MANTLE
MESSENGERS FROM THE MANTLE
MESSENGERS FROM THE MANTLE
An exhibition of unique and rare mantle rocks and their stories.
An exhibition of unique and rare mantle rocks and their stories.
An exhibition of unique and rare mantle rocks and their stories.
An exhibition of unique and rare mantle rocks and their stories.
Client
Client
Mineral Services
Roles
Creative Director, designer, illustrator, editor, client service
Type
Print exhibition with video
BACKGROUND AND BRIEF:
Mineral Services' brief was to design a mobile exhibition to display a rare and unique collection of upper mantle rocks. This collection of rocks belongs to the Department of Geochemistry at the University of Cape Town. These rocks have attracted international attention over the past decades, containing significant information about the mantle, they are in great demand for studying and teaching purposes. John Gurney (chairman of Mineral Services and an Emeritus Professor of Geochemistry at the University of Cape Town) had a long-time vision that these rare samples should go on display. The launch of the exhibition was to coincide with the 35th International Geological Congress being held in Cape Town.
The exhibition builders decided that using large format banner walls was the best solution because they were lightweight, quick to set up and transportable. The exhibition would also include various samples from the mantle rock collection for which custom, modular display cases were designed and built.
In addition to the design of the banner walls, there were various videos which needed to be edited for the sections and illustrations and titles designed for the videos.
APPROACH:
The text was highly scientific since the audience was going to be geologists and scientists. I wanted the design to reflect the nature of the stones and at the same time frame the content elegantly. I created a scalable modular identity that could be rolled out throughout all the sections.
The mantle rock samples were the heroes of the exhibition and I wanted to give them their moment in the limelight. I scanned them at a very high resolution and then printed these detailed sections of the rocks on the 2m tall banners. Never before had these rocks been seen at such a scale and in such detail.
APPROACH:
The text was highly scientific since the audience was going to be geologists and scientists. I wanted the design to reflect the nature of the stones and at the same time frame the content elegantly. I created a scalable modular identity that could be rolled out throughout all the sections.
The mantle rock samples were the heroes of the exhibition and I wanted to give them their moment in the limelight. I scanned them at a very high resolution and then printed these detailed sections of the rocks on the 2m tall banners. Never before had these rocks been seen at such a scale and in such detail.
APPROACH:
The text was highly scientific since the audience was going to be geologists and scientists. I wanted the design to reflect the nature of the stones and at the same time frame the content elegantly. I created a scalable modular identity that could be rolled out throughout all the sections.
The mantle rock samples were the heroes of the exhibition and I wanted to give them their moment in the limelight. I scanned them at a very high resolution and then printed these detailed sections of the rocks on the 2m tall banners. Never before had these rocks been seen at such a scale and in such detail.
APPROACH:
The text was highly scientific since the audience was going to be geologists and scientists. I wanted the design to reflect the nature of the stones and at the same time frame the content elegantly. I created a scalable modular identity that could be rolled out throughout all the sections.
The mantle rock samples were the heroes of the exhibition and I wanted to give them their moment in the limelight. I scanned them at a very high resolution and then printed these detailed sections of the rocks on the 2m tall banners. Never before had these rocks been seen at such a scale and in such detail.
EXHIBITION PHOTOGRAPHS
EXHIBITION PHOTOGRAPHS
All photos of the exhibit courtesy of © David Swart
All photos of the exhibit courtesy of © David Swart
All photos of the exhibit courtesy of © David Swart
All photos of the exhibit courtesy of © David Swart
All photos of the exhibit courtesy of © David Swart
CHALLENGES:
One of the biggest challenges was cutting back the amount of text and information the client wanted in the exhibit. Another big hurdle was sourcing photographs for a number of the sections. We cast a wide net and sent out requests for imagery, eventually the imagery starting coming in from colleagues and associates around the world.
Getting highly scientific information correct takes a dedicated team of people who are a mixture of academics and industry professionals. I was fortunate to have access to all of these people and we worked as a very tight team going through the content, checking, correcting, double-checking and triple-checking before finally sending the files to be printed.
RESULT:
The look on John’s face at the opening of the exhibit was priceless, seeing a highly decorated professor see his vision be fulfilled was priceless. The exhibit has gone on to various locations across South Africa and outside its borders.
RESULT:
The look on John’s face at the opening of the exhibit was priceless, seeing a highly decorated professor see his vision be fulfilled was priceless. The exhibit has gone on to various locations across South Africa and outside its borders.
EXHIBITION DESIGN PLANNING PROCESS
VISUAL IDENTITY AND LOOK AND FEEL
When I began to design the visual identity of the exhibition, my starting point was to draw inspiration from the rocks. Their physical makeup is faceted which offered a certain pleasing design aesthetic plus there is a multitude of colourful stones embedded within them.
The content was very text-heavy so I knew I needed to design a neat grid structure for the various templates. The templates needed to be scalable and to work across all the banner wall sizes. The treatment for the banner wall titles was also important as they needed to indicate the section and rock type and act as visual markers. Defining templates upfront helped to define a word count for each of the banners, which then helped the content editor shorten the text to fit the templates.
When I began to design the visual identity of the exhibition, my starting point was to draw inspiration from the rocks. Their physical makeup is faceted which offered a certain pleasing design aesthetic plus there is a multitude of colourful stones embedded within them.
The content was very text-heavy so I knew I needed to design a neat grid structure for the various templates. The templates needed to be scalable and to work across all the banner wall sizes. The treatment for the banner wall titles was also important as they needed to indicate the section and rock type and act as visual markers. Defining templates upfront helped to define a word count for each of the banners, which then helped the content editor shorten the text to fit the templates.
When I began to design the visual identity of the exhibition, my starting point was to draw inspiration from the rocks. Their physical makeup is faceted which offered a certain pleasing design aesthetic plus there is a multitude of colourful stones embedded within them.
The content was very text-heavy so I knew I needed to design a neat grid structure for the various templates. The templates needed to be scalable and to work across all the banner wall sizes. The treatment for the banner wall titles was also important as they needed to indicate the section and rock type and act as visual markers. Defining templates upfront helped to define a word count for each of the banners, which then helped the content editor shorten the text to fit the templates.
SCALE MOCKUPS AND VISUALIZATIONS
I created mock-ups representing the relationship of scale between the banner walls, display cases and people.
The facet element was designed to be a continuous graphic link, linking the walls and creating a visual connection between the banners. However, before I could design the base, the layout of the exhibition first needed to be finalised. The position and order of the banner walls would enable me to roll out the facet design to the banner walls.
SOME EXAMPLES OF THE FINAL DESIGNS
Here are some of the designs of the banners. There were many scientific diagrams in the content deck. I recreated all the these diagrams, standardising the labels and applying a universal colour palette and style.
HIGH RESOLUTION ROCKS
Scanning and printing these rocks at such a high resolution added a real "wow" factor to the exhibition. It showed them in such detail which had never been done before. They were a real hit.
TESTIMONIALS FROM THE CLIENT
The rock collection around which this project was focused was accumulated by my students and myself over a career lifetime, literally.
It was amazing to find that both Rahle Dusheiko and Preston Thomas became as passionate about the project as we are ourselves. Their experience and skills were invaluable and their input a major factor in the success of the project. The quality of everything they contributed was exceptional and was delivered on or in advance of time. If anything from our side looked like it was late this was dealt with in a friendly and insightful manner. Initially, a budget was drawn up which was closely aligned to the funds that we had available for the project. After which it was accepted that from there on out the priority was to get the project done.
Our whole experience with PIXEL was extremely rewarding and was a thoroughly enjoyable period of co-operation.
- Dr. John Gurney
The rock collection around which this project was focused was accumulated by my students and myself over a career lifetime, literally.
It was amazing to find that both Rahle Dusheiko and Preston Thomas became as passionate about the project as we are ourselves. Their experience and skills were invaluable and their input a major factor in the success of the project. The quality of everything they contributed was exceptional and was delivered on or in advance of time. If anything from our side looked like it was late this was dealt with in a friendly and insightful manner. Initially, a budget was drawn up which was closely aligned to the funds that we had available for the project. After which it was accepted that from there on out the priority was to get the project done.
Our whole experience with PIXEL was extremely rewarding and was a thoroughly enjoyable period of co-operation.
- Dr. John Gurney
Pixel Project was the key organisation that made our exhibition “Messengers from the Mantle: Diamonds and Craton Roots” at the 35th International Geological Congress a wonderful success.
This was an unusual assignment, as the purpose of the exhibit was to highlight a world-renowned collection of specimens from the Earth’s mantle and give a basic account of the science of the Earth’s interior to an educated lay audience.
The material was highly technical (even esoteric) and Rahle and Preston found innovative ways to make the content approachable to non-specialists and to let the rocks “speak” for themselves.
In addition to providing crucial graphic design, video editing skills and content advice, they found a series of excellent vendors who supplied exactly what we needed, most especially for the exhibit cases which were challenging to build, very innovative and turned out beautifully. At all times, Rahle and Preston were a pleasure to work with and kept the big picture in focus, resulting in a fantastic exhibition completed on time and budget.
I give them my strongest recommendation and hope I get a chance to work with them again.
- Prof Phil Janney
Pixel Project was the key organisation that made our exhibition “Messengers from the Mantle: Diamonds and Craton Roots” at the 35th International Geological Congress a wonderful success.
This was an unusual assignment, as the purpose of the exhibit was to highlight a world-renowned collection of specimens from the Earth’s mantle and give a basic account of the science of the Earth’s interior to an educated lay audience.
The material was highly technical (even esoteric) and Rahle and Preston found innovative ways to make the content approachable to non-specialists and to let the rocks “speak” for themselves.
In addition to providing crucial graphic design, video editing skills and content advice, they found a series of excellent vendors who supplied exactly what we needed, most especially for the exhibit cases which were challenging to build, very innovative and turned out beautifully. At all times, Rahle and Preston were a pleasure to work with and kept the big picture in focus, resulting in a fantastic exhibition completed on time and budget.
I give them my strongest recommendation and hope I get a chance to work with them again.
- Prof Phil Janney