Through special exhibits, regular programs and museum hours, the Society aims to engage people in the vital aspects of Rye’s history so that current issues may be better understood and future plans respect the natural and human history of the town.
The Need
The Rye Historical Society and Town Museum recently curated a new exhibit, Farming, Fishing and Fun, comprised of historic photographs and select artifacts from their extensive collection. Board members Linda Lemelin and Deb Toohey came to [AlphaGraphics] needing 39 printed and mounted photo enlargements as well as 32 accompanying exhibit labels.
Solution
Linda and Deb met with production and design staff to review the scope of the project and to map out the overall vision for sizing, text fonts, and mounting options. Inspired by the layout of the photo collage she saw on AlphaGraphics’ office wall, Linda used that to shape her vision for the final installation.
West End Creative designer, Abby Stuart, established a consistent format for the object labels, including heading and body font style and sizes. To maximize visual consistency across the exhibit, the object labels were all set at a standard width, which allowed for variation in height based on the amount of text they contained. She also recommended adding a parchment color background to the exhibit labels to create a historically appropriate and uniform look across all the prints.
All the images would be hung individually to maximize the small gallery space and the society wanted a hanging solution that would allow them to swap out individual panels over time as needed. The production team recommended mounting the images on 1/8” black Gatorboard, which would be sturdy and professional-looking, and using a French cleat as the mounting system. A French cleat features two pieces of interlocking beveled blocks, one which is mounted to the wall and the other to the hanging item. The benefit of this secure mounting system is that the hung item can be easily removed or replaced.
The Results
Since its installation, the exhibit has been generating positive feedback, even attracting visitors from other historical societies looking for ideas on how to creatively use small spaces to showcase their collections.
“After working with [AlphaGraphbics] and West End Creative, we ended up with a much better result than we’d originally envisioned and the price was very affordable,” reflected Linda Lemelin, a board member at Rye Historical Society and Town Museum. “As a nonprofit, getting the most for our money was especially important and we couldn’t be happier with the results.”
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Read our related blog post about messaging design.
