not what you think
(or how david bowie helped us design)
the group of young adults working with the ferens gallery in hull had previously been known as ‘the ferens art ambassadors’ but there was a general feeling that this sounded rather formal and none too helpful in attracting new members to the group and promoting the exhibitions they curate. we were invited to work with the group to develop a new name and visual identity that would help them promote what they do.
the starting point was look at existing logos from a wide range of sources and uses and how they conveyed a message through their choice of words, colours and style. with those thoughts in our minds we ate some biscuits, then started to write our own descriptions of what the ‘art ambassadors’ do and how it could be described. one of the techniques we used – especially good for when you grind to a halt or need a fresh perspective at familiar phrases – was cut-up technique.
i was delighted that the group appreciated david bowie and i could take a brief excursion to alan yentob’s 1974 documentary ‘cracked actor’ where bowie’s burroughsian wordplay is synced to him singing ‘moonage daydream’. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il6-mnTjAVA. any design job you bring a bowie reference to has got to be good.
plastic soul dalliances aside, it was this process and resulting discussion (shown above) and possibly some more biscuits that led us to the phrase ‘not what you think’ as exactly the sort of challenging and polysemic phrase that would work on promotional material for both exhibitions and the group. some examples:
- ‘not what you think’ confounding expectations of what’s inside a gallery
- ‘not what you think’ as to what it’s like being part of the group
- ‘not what *you* think’ as a challenge to take on other perspectives to the world
- it’s… ‘not what you *think*’ …it’s what you do. as a prompt to get involved
.
also out of this process came the title ‘future ferens’ for the group itself which we thought would work well as a subtitle or explanation of the above phrase – a concious reversal of the usual name and subtitle convention.
the second stage was to take these words and develop them as a logo that could be use in various contexts. above we are trying out variations at a second workshop using dummy posters. below is the finished logo in use on the ‘unwrapped’ exhibition publicity. it’s designed to be almost used as a ‘stamp’ over the top of images or almost haphazardly on a design, to indicate the freshness of thought by the future ferens and, in time, we hope as a stamp of approval or signifier you can trust an event bearing this mark. the final artwork which will be supplied to printers and other designers is deliberately at an angle in the hope it will never look too formal or staid.
