Interpretive Visitor Experience
Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses—Exhibition Graphic Design
Client:
MoPOP
Venue/Location:
Museum of Pop Culture, Seattle, WA
Browse:
exhibits and interactives
The two-story entry photomural leading visitors up to the gallery from the admissions desk.
Exhibit title pillar; exhibition signage was CNC-routed into the surface.
Exhibition introduction text and Dave Grohl's drum set.
First gallery with a large Charles Peterson photomural in the background.
One of the hanging mobiles created from the illustration set inspired by the exhibition identity.
Looking through the gallery.
Touchtable installation.
Visitors using the first (of three) interactive touchtable stations to explore an extensive collection of media and oral histories not seen elsewhere in the exhibition.
One of three interactive touchtable clusters showing an extensive collection of media and curated story paths.
Visitors looking at album artwork and listening at one of the record walls.
A visitor listening to the bands represented in the "Micro scenes" of the pacific northwest infographic.
Looking down the gallery.
Visitors looking at objects in the long display case with photo murals behind them.
The final record wall, with records from Krist Novoselic's personal collection.
One of the "confessionals"; video footage captured at an interactive booth inside the gallery. Participants included key people from the scene as well as museum visitors with stories to tell.
Client:
MoPOP
Browse:
exhibits and interactives
MoPOP (formerly EMP Museum) commissioned Belle & Wissell to design the exhibition graphics and a series of interactives for their exhibition titled “Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses”—which paid homage to both the band and the music scene from which they were born. Since the exhibit’s opening in 2011, it has been experienced by over 3 million visitors from all over the world.
Several large-scale photo murals from photographers Charles Peterson and Alice Wheeler were used to mark the start of each section (including a large two-story mural to draw visitors upstairs to the gallery).
Recurring quotes, record walls that showed album artwork and allowed users to listen to each album, and hanging banners with photo collages of performance posters were integrated throughout the gallery spaces.
Hanging graphic mobiles, illustrated scenes, and listening stations were included to help visitors learn more about the micro-scenes that contributed to the Nirvana sound.
Project Accolades:
I.D. Magazine Annual Design Review, 2011
The New York Times “Post-Grunge, Seattle Rocks On,” 2011
MTV “Nirvana Exhibit Leads Fans Through Band’s Humble Start, Meteoric Rise,” 2011
Examiner “Must-see rock music exhibits at Seattle’s Experience Music Project Museum,” 2011
The Seattle Times “EMP unveils Nirvana exhibit and a part of Seattle’s music legacy,” 2011
Belle & Wissell Team Credits
Design Director: Gabe Kean
Senior Designer: Thomas Ryun
Designer: Edrea Lita
Producer: Marq Dean
Illustrator: Steven Henry
Additional Project Credits
Curator: Jacob McMurray
Assistant, Curatorial: Erin Wheeler
Exhibit Manager: Addy Froehlich
Exhibit 3D Designer: Wonder Mine
Sound Design, Content Advisor: Steve Fisk
Mobile Fabrication: Josh Levine
Logo Designer: Jacob Covey
Photographer: Charles Peterson
Photographer: Alice Wheeler
Belle & Wissell Team Credits
Design Director: Gabe Kean
Senior Designer: Thomas Ryun
Designer: Edrea Lita
Producer: Marq Dean
Illustrator: Steven Henry
Additional Project Credits
Curator: Jacob McMurray
Assistant, Curatorial: Erin Wheeler
Exhibit Manager: Addy Froehlich
Exhibit 3D Designer: Wonder Mine
Sound Design, Content Advisor: Steve Fisk
Mobile Fabrication: Josh Levine
Logo Designer: Jacob Covey
Photographer: Charles Peterson
Photographer: Alice Wheeler
MoPOP (formerly EMP Museum) commissioned Belle & Wissell to design the exhibition graphics and a series of interactives for their exhibition titled “Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses”—which paid homage to both the band and the music scene from which they were born. Since the exhibit’s opening in 2011, it has been experienced by over 3 million visitors from all over the world.
Several large-scale photo murals from photographers Charles Peterson and Alice Wheeler were used to mark the start of each section (including a large two-story mural to draw visitors upstairs to the gallery).
Recurring quotes, record walls that showed album artwork and allowed users to listen to each album, and hanging banners with photo collages of performance posters were integrated throughout the gallery spaces.
Hanging graphic mobiles, illustrated scenes, and listening stations were included to help visitors learn more about the micro-scenes that contributed to the Nirvana sound.
Project Accolades:
I.D. Magazine Annual Design Review, 2011
The New York Times “Post-Grunge, Seattle Rocks On,” 2011
MTV “Nirvana Exhibit Leads Fans Through Band’s Humble Start, Meteoric Rise,” 2011
Examiner “Must-see rock music exhibits at Seattle’s Experience Music Project Museum,” 2011
The Seattle Times “EMP unveils Nirvana exhibit and a part of Seattle’s music legacy,” 2011