Jeff Craven is a certified Retul bike fitter. He utilizes 3D motion capture technology to bring solid science to the art of fitting. Jeff doesn’t guess. Jeff makes smart equipment adjustments based on data to ensure optimum fit, efficiency and comfort.

I produced a suite of designs – including printed and digital materials – that speak to Jeff’s scientific and motion-based approach to bike fitting.

^ Logo

^ www.cravencycling.com

^ Coordinating Facebook cover and profile images

My role in the project was to develop the graphics for five new galleries – America’s Motor City, Detroit: The Arsenal of Democracy, Allesee Gallery of Culture, Doorway to Freedom and Innovation Detroit.

Each gallery was given a unique graphic treatment. The various graphics were crafted to compliment the character of each gallery while working harmoniously to create a cohesive visitor experience.

Regarding the renovation The Detroit News wrote, “Always a cool place to visit, the museum reinvented itself as a more interactive experience. Suddenly, there’s a lot more going on.”

^ The renovated museum celebrated 84 years in service in 2012

AMERICA’S MOTOR CITY

Did Detroit make cars or did cars make Detroit? Both, actually. A special mix of manufacturing expertise, resources, capital and entrepreneurs set the stage for a dramatic urban transformation. This gallery takes visitors from the early days of automobile innovation, through the birth of car culture to modern manufacturing.

^ Dimensional type at the gallery’s entrance

^ The King Car was the first automobile to motor down Woodward Avenue.

^ Reclaimed from a decommissioned Cadillac plant, the body drop exhibit entertains visitors.

DETROIT: THE ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY

Detroit’s manufacturing effort during WWII was staggering in its scope. Truly amazing.

Take the Willow Run Bomber plant as an example: The largest factory in the world, Willow Run occupied 80 acres and employed 40,000 people. They were capable of building one complete B-24 Liberator every hour and had manufactured 8,586 by the end of the war. They used 2.7 billion rivets in the process.

Beyond bombers, Detroit produced ammunition, communication equipment, vehicles, weapons, protective gear, tools and field goods. By the middle of the war Detroit made 1/3 of all the materials used by the armed forces.

All this manufacturing had enormous effects on the population, geography and industry of Detroit.

Michael H. Hodges wrote about the gallery for The Detroit News:

“War and its impact lie at the very heart of the Historical Museum’s ‘Arsenal of Democracy’ exhibit, another national story in which Detroit played an outsized role. This well-organized exhibit strikes a great balance between detail and brevity. A three-minute video at the start takes us from the late 1930s into the ’40s, when a Detroit decimated by the Depression turned into a wartime boomtown virtually overnight.”

^ Bold angular type evokes mid-century poster art and speaks to the energy of wartime Detroit.

^ Interpretive graphics accompany artifact vitrines

^ This interactive exhibit invites visitors to try their hand at quality control. Detroit was known for manufacturing the highest quality goods.

^ Life on the home front is explored in this exhibit.

ALLESEE GALLERY OF CULTURE

This tall, round gallery acts as a museum hub while the exhibits recall Detroit’s rich cultural legacy.

^ Refurbished neon letters from the beloved Tiger Stadium add their glow to the Allesee Gallery of Culture.

^ The galleries eight artifact cases provide a home for Detroit’s best cultural treasures and accompanying interpretation.

^ Dense reader-rail graphics feature brief stories, photos, a Detroit timeline and artifact labels.

DOORWAY TO FREEDOM

It’s hard to add much to what Michael Hodges wrote for The Detroit News. He captured the tone of this exhibit nicely in his piece:

“Most significant in the makeover is the deep dive the museum now takes into subjects that once got short shrift, notably Detroit’s importance in the Underground Railroad before the Civil War. Once relegated to two glass cases on a stairway landing, ‘Doorway to Freedom’ offers a far more-absorbing, multisensory experience.

‘It was one of the things that always troubled us,’ Bury says of the former exhibit.

The expanded installation opens with a cappella spirituals and a sobering illustration of how to pack slaves into every last inch of a ship sailing from Africa. From there, we push through tight passages lined with broadsides advertising the criminal penalties for failing to turn in escaped slaves. The physical compression and the legal warnings generate a little of the claustrophobia and anxiety that had to attend every step escaped slaves took on the perilous journey to Canada.

Indeed, the exhibit notes that one runaway slave from St. Louis, Caroline Quarlls, was so apprehensive that on seeing the Detroit River, she mistook it for the Mississippi and assumed she’d been hoodwinked. Throughout the exhibit, we meet specific slaves and hear their stories, like one from Robert Cromwell, whose bass voice confesses overhead, “I don’t mind telling you I’m scared. I’m a runaway.” At exhibit’s end, we learn whether Cromwell and others made the river crossing.”

^ The gallery’s entrance transitions visitors from the museum corridors to an immersive journey experience – from slavery to freedom in the north.

^ A variety of graphic techniques are used to communicate the story of Detroit and its role in the Underground Railroad. Shown here are frosted glass panels with applied text and photos.

^ Thematic exhibit elements and graphics evoke the Civil War era.

^ Period appropriate type is an important factor in setting exhibit tone.

^ Printed-wheatboard graphics compliment the larger exhibit design.

INNOVATION DETROIT

Did you know Paint-by-number was invented in Detroit? It was imagined by Dan Robbins. You can thank Detroiters for the outboard motor, Tupperware parties, traffic lane striping and advancements in industrial architecture. And, of course, we can’t overlook Henry Ford’s contribution to auto manufacturing.

^ Vibrant colors and energetic graphics add to the frenzy of this gallery and evoke the eureka moments sought by so many Detroit innovators.

^ Color changing backlights glow through waterjet-cut metal graphics.

EXHIBIT CREDITS

Graphic Design – Gene Ullery-Smith
Exhibit Design – Good Design Group
Fabrication – Morley
Project Oversight – David Goodman
Client – Detroit Historical Society
Site Mastermind – Tom Wolcott

The first order of business was to create a simple and clear map of the course that could be adapted to an information kiosk, hole markers and a new scorecard.

The new park signage needs to last. I specified weather proof and vandal resistant materials to protect the city’s investment.

Each throwing pad marker includes a hole number, map, par and distance.

The map was also reformated to work in black and white on the scorecard. The card is available at the kiosk and is downloadable. A QR code at the information kiosk links visitor smartphones to the city’s website.

Here is the original scorecard and course map.

Large exterior signage transport visitors through time as they approach the entrance of the WCP&A.;

A series of maps (above) illustrate how the area where the WCP&A; now resides has changed throughout the past eras.

A recreated 1800s home (above) serves as a vehicle for the presentation of artifacts of early settlement recovered during the construction of the Diamond Valley Lake.

The main exhibit gallery (above) provides a large space for the presentation of fossils, interactive learning stations and docent led activities.

Large wall panels (above) present key stories as visitors move through the exhibit.

Small panels, such as the one shown above, surround skeleton displays. They explain various concepts with text, illustration and diagrams.

Crime Scene Ivestigation files, notes and case solutions illustrate the range of causes of fossil condition. The CSI format reinforces the concept of paleontogists as detectives.

Visit the Western Center for Paleontology & Archaeology website to learn more about the museum.

Thanks to Scott Saxton for his brilliant illustrations and graphic design assistance. Exhibit design by Chris Malczewski. All photos © Jim Walters

These cabinets, above and below, introduce visitors the roots of the company that grew to be a global provider of windows and doors.

A series of initial graphics (above) were developed to accent the typography in the previously mentioned exhibit.

This thematic environment, above, recollects the life and times of Margaret Wallin Marvin and William S. “Bill” Marvin.

An initial graphic was also created to accent the Margaret Marvin exhibit.

This recreated grain elevator-like structure, above, recalls the look and feel of past marketing materials to tell the story of the Marvin children.

Details (above) from the previously mentioned exhibit.

The classic stack-and-strip Marvin window is featured prominently in this exhibit, above, which details the activities of MW&D; during the mid-century.

These spinning, interactive graphics, above and below, exhibit the ingenious components developed by Marvin engineers.

Thanks to Scott Saxton for his brilliant illustrations and graphic design assistance. Exhibit design by John Metcalf of Good Design Group.

This was one of the first projects for which I was charged with the task of designing and producing the graphics. It was a great honor to have a hand in telling the story of the first black Army officers and the pioneering Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. The finished exhibit strikes balance between a memorial and an interactive/educational exhibit.

This artifact case and this mural act as a transition between the Interwar Gallery and the WWII Gallery. The WWII Gallery focuses on the contributions of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps.

Various exhibits and kiosks enumerate the contributions of African-American officers. The straight-forward graphic style allows visitors to easily find and understand the many stories that make up the larger history of African-American officers.

An introductory graphic, above, locates the visitor, explains the purpose of the museum and invites further exploration.

African-American officers influenced, and were influenced by, the French musical culture. This interactive exhibit, above, plays samples of compositions created by officers who spent time in France during WWI.

This audio-visual exhibit speaks to the experience of WAAC enlistees.
John Metcalf was the lead designer of this exhibit while I was responsible for implementation of the graphic program.

This tabletop (below) graphic provides instructions on how one might fold a mitre – the ceremonial head-dress of bishops – out of paper! Also shown is custom printed origami paper with a cross and mosaic pattern on one side and folding instructions repeated on the reverse side.

Three of nine large translucent window graphics in the lobby of the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center are shown here. Each graphic illustrates a different weather condition and a person interacting with that weather.

Punxsutawney Phil, of Groundhog Day fame, is quite a popular rodent. This thematic graphic (above) show a couple of his biggest fans.

These overhead banners coordinate with interactive exhibits and absorb echos within the PWDC’s main gallery.

A few pages (above) from Phil’s “scrapbook” illustrate the history of Groundhog Day in an engaging format.

Phil’s “bulletin board” (above) uses a references the roots of Groundhog Day, Phil’s place in pop culture and local lore.

This graphic (above) was designed to accompany a themed interactive radio exhibit in Phil’s burrow. The radio allows visitors to play clips of Groundhog Day related audio.

This interpretive graphic explains how weather lore is often rooted in solid scientific fact. It also reinforces the visual identity of the PWDC.

A series of “letters” throughout the museum describe the history of the post office building and its connection with the PWDC.

These graphics were designed to accompany an interactive exhibit geared toward young children that describes the formation and impact of tornadoes. Custom typography and illustration combine with “textured” graphics to create excitement.

These, like the tornado thematic graphics, accompany an interactive exhibit. In the exhibit visitors, as a group, create a “thunderstorm” by pounding drums, turning fans and triggering a light show. The design of these graphics reflect the urgency and excitement of thunderstorms.

Fence pickets provide an opportunity for the PWDC to recognize their generous supporters.

The original concept sketches, above, depict the bustling educational environment that is the PWDC.

Visit the Weather Discovery Center’s website to learn more about the museum.

Exhibit design by Jen Beyer.

This map helps walking visitors find points of interest and dining opportunities in downtown Medina, Ohio. A stand-alone directory of merchants allows for easy updates.

This large map assists those who visit downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. Major highways, districts, primary destinations, parking garages, historical routes and parks are all highlighted.

This map highlights landmarks on the campus of Harrisburg Area Community College. Landmarks aid students and visitors with orientation and support wayfinding on the campus. Buidlings, parking lots and physical features are also included.

Work completed while employed by Corbin Design.