Detroit Historical Museum, Interpretive Exhibit Design by Gene Ullery-Smith at Coroflot.com

Detroit Historical Museum, Interpretive Exhibit Design

Detroit Historical Museum, Interpretive Exhibit Design from Gene Ullery-Smith

Detroit Historical Museum, Interpretive Exhibit Design

Great exhibits and great graphics combine in the Detroit Historical Museum’s new and redone galleries – all part of a sweeping $12 million overhaul. Museum graphics must look great and educate quickly – a specialty of Gene Ullery-Smith Graphic Design.

It took seven months to complete, but when the Detroit Historical Museum reopened in November 2012, it was met with rave reviews and over 3,000 visitors on opening day – well above the usual 200 to 500 that typically visit in a day.

Key to the success of the museum’s reinvention are five new galleries – America’s Motor City, Detroit: The Arsenal of Democracy, Allesee Gallery of Culture, Doorway to Freedom and Innovation Detroit – which showcase the cultural, business and entertainment history of the city. Linking these very different exhibit areas – 70% of which are new or greatly expanded – are the graphics and interpretive signage GUSGD designed.

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Did Detroit make cars or did cars make Detroit? In the early Twentieth Century Detroit became the leading producer of the automobile. That didn’t happen by accident. It took a special mix of entrepreneurs, inventors, manufacturers, natural resources and capital to fuel Detroit’s transformation into “Motor City.” Gene’s work contributes to the success of this gallery through the use of color and changes in the graphic design approach. Just as Detroit evolved as a city, the auto industry evolved from merely providing transportation to creating a car culture that is unmatched in any other country. Similarly, Gene’s graphic program evolves as visitors move through the gallery, changing to delineate the different gallery areas. He successfully uses graphics, type and color to provide the visitor with a sense of Detroit’s evolution as a modern manufacturing city.

From ground transportation to B-24s, Detroit’s manufacturing capabilities made it central to the United States efforts in World War II. Employing 40,000 people, the Willow Run bomber plant was the largest factory in the world, churning out one complete B-24 Liberator every hour. But bombers weren’t Detroit’s only contribution to the war effort. Ammunition, communication equipment, vehicles, weapons, protective gear, tools and field goods were all made in Detroit. So much war manufacturing was done there that by the middle of the war Detroiter were responsible for producing one-third of all the materials used by the armed forces. In creating the graphic design for the gallery, Gene looked to poster artwork of the 1930s and 1940s for inspiration. Murals, interpretive panels and labels for the artifacts in this gallery are all designed to evoke the feeling of unity and patriotism felt on “The Homefront.”

While Detroit may be best known for auto production, the same creativity and entrepreneurial spirit led to many other business innovations. Did you know Paint-by-number was invented in Detroit? Dan Robbins was creating washable paint sets for kids when he took up the challenge to develop a way to make anyone an artist. It should come as no surprise that with the city’s manufacturing knowledge and all the miles of Michigan shoreline and inland lakes that Detroiters played a major role in the development of the outboard motor. Other innovations included some that were auto related – like traffic lane striping – and others that weren’t like Tupperware parties and advancements in industrial architecture. Innovation Detroit is a gallery dedicated to the innovative people in Detroit’s past and to those working today.

Detroit is a city of culture and cultures and the Allesee Gallery of Culture captures snapshots of Detroit’s history in music, theater, art and architecture, sports and recreation, industry and commerce and through turbulent decades marked by social tensions. Gene’s creative vision for this gallery includes a system of graphic treatments for the various artifact cases that allowed the museum to have flexibility in the case layout. In addition, he created a three tier information system for visitors on each case to enrich their educational experience. Museum goers are encouraged to read captions along the top edge of the cases, interpretive text in the exhibit and a timeline of Detroit’s cultural history that runs along each case’s bottom edge.

When thinking of Detroit, many people focus on its manufacturing history – its reputation as the “Motor City.” But long before autos were built in Detroit, the city played an important role in a different type of transportation. Detroit was an important stop on the Underground Railroad – the last stop for runaway slaves before crossing the river to Canada – and freedom.