Gertrude Stein Exhibition
Branding, Environmental, and Print
The Challenge
To develop the identity for the exhibition The Worlds of Gertrude Stein, which aims to show a more complete portrait of Stein through her personal belongings and home life.
Background: I worked closely with the exhibition curator, Dr. Sophie Oliver, and the Harry Ransom Center’s Director of Exhibitions Erica Nunn-Kinias. Dr. Oliver’s vision was to show how Stein’s home life, made warm and personal through the work of her partner Alice Toklas, shows a different perspective to the personality famously known for being larger-than-life and difficult.
My Approach
With such a big personality and presence, I knew that designing the branding for this exhibition would be challenging. I focused on the need to carefully balance elements of Stein’s warm interior home life with her groundbreaking literary work and place in history as a gay, female artist.
Research and Mood Boards
I looked into past Gertrude Stein exhibitions and literary works and how designers had approached those. Next, I brainstormed different themes to explore in my design. The three main themes were 1. Punk, Femme, Boundary-pushing, Artist Community, 2. Quirky, Magic in Everyday Objects, Bright, Modern, and 3. French, Artistic, High-brow, Literary.
Final Exhibition Design
For the final design, I perfected alignment between elements in the wordmark and carefully considered leading, tracking, and kerning to ensure things would look legible and elegant at both small and large scales.
