UPSTARTS

Role
Lead designer

Timeline
2017

Skills
Branding

Tools
Photoshop
Final Cut Pro

UPSTARTS is the Youth Advisory Committee at the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, consisting of 15 teens with immensely diverse interests, ranging from science, technology, fashion, literature and art. We are united in our passion for youth involvement in museums, believing that youth should feel welcome in spaces meant to educate and entertain.

As part of UPSTARTS, I worked closely with MAAS staff to develop ways of increasing youth engagement with the museum. Throughout the year, the committee developed a range of diverse projects including Journeys, a teen-curated digital tour of the Powerhouse Museum and UPSTARTS Up Late, a teens-only event featuring virtual reality demonstrations, curator tours, music and hands-on activities.

The Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS) operates three museums in Sydney, the Powerhouse Museum, Museums Discovery Centre and Sydney Observatory, with a focus on science and design. Youth engagement with MAAS had declined in the years leading up to 2017, while it had increased in at the nearby Museum of Contemporary Art and the Art Gallery of NSW. Both of these galleries had their own youth-led initiatives such as Genext and the Youth Collective, while MAAS did not have anything similar. The UPSTARTS team was assembled and tasked with developing a sub-brand within MAAS that would not only host youth events but offer a digital tour of the MAAS Collection with a youth interpretation.

The team began with a brainstorming session to determine what we liked and didn't like about the museum. Overall, the static exhibitions that had been in place for the past 30 years were the least engaging as everything was behind glass, the lighting was yellow and the aesthetics looked dated. We agreed that our own initiative needed to be interactive and utilise modern technology.

The next step was to establish a brand for UPSTARTS. I took inspiration from the bright colours and angled graphic device used in MAAS advertisements to create title cards for the four themes that we had chosen.




Above: Samples of MAAS brand identity. Below: First draft of UPSTARTS branding.

The draft designs were well received but the team felt that they too closely resembled the MAAS brand and it would be better to more distinctly identity ourselves as UPSTARTS. The museum's I.T. team also told me that I couldn't use the museum's font as there would be additional licensing issues.

I decided to strip back the colours and use a primary palette of black and white with one accent colour chosen from the featured object's image. The new logo uses an angular typeface and is split across two lines to allude to the MAAS logo. The four themes were also consolidated into the primary theme of Journeys, which I then arranged around the featured objects.

After these elements were decided on, I worked on a website in Wix that would be used for both the UPSTARTS Up Late event and the Journeys digital platform. Unfortunately, the domain name was not renewed after the event ended and the only screenshot I have of the website is shown below.




I also created a map and program brochure as well as wayfinding signage for the event.




The UPSTARTS Up Late event attracted over 100 guests and was successfully run. However, due to logistical issues and the impending demolition of the Powerhouse Museum, UPSTARTS did not continue in 2018. Overall, it was a good opportunity for me to experience working in the organisational environment of a museum and I was able to learn more about collaborating with different stakeholders and the design thinking process.

Library