The design brief - AMaGA Vic · The creation of the design brief and vision was a very useful . experience. It forced the team to make decisions early. Not . design decisions but

The design brief : setting a project up for success

Kathy Fox.

Exhibition producer, Museum Victoria

April 2012

Author Kathy Fox. This presentation is copyright and remains the property of Museum Victoria and may not be retained, copied or used without express permission.

What is design?

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT PROTOTYING/ PRODUCTION

DOCUMENTATION INSTALLATION/ COMMISSIONING


What is design?




What is design?

Design is an action based process,

that is the act of giving form to ideas ...

... Whilst often expressed as a linear process,

within each ‘design milestones’ there is a

valuable iterative cycle involving the

generation, testing and reflection of ideas.

Design is often described as creative problem solving,

but ideally it is more than this and in fact can not

only solve problems but reveal opportunities. Trevor Streader. Design Manager, Museum Victoria




What is a design brief?

content, collection, audience evaluation, target audience, education audience, curriculum, gallery space, operational requirements, technical requirements, business plan, cost plan, staff expertise, research focuses, marketing, strategic directions, sustainability, relationship to other projects .......

EXHIBITION BRIEF

DESIGN BRIEF CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT PROTOTYING/ PRODUCTION




The design brief is the place where

all the internal people come together –

before the project goes outside their

institution to external design companies

or work begins with internal designers.

It represents the project’s organisational

ambitions and reflects the larger values

and ethos of the institution.

Linda Sproul - Public programs manager,

Museum Victoria

EXHIBITION BRIEF



content, collection, audience evaluation, target audience, education audience, curriculum, gallery space, operational requirements, technical requirements, business plan, cost plan, staff expertise, research focuses, marketing, strategic directions, sustainability, relationship to other projects .......



DESIGN BRIEF

VISION BOUNDARIES

EXHIBITION BRIEF





DESIGN BRIEF

VISION BOUNDARIES

The balance between vision and boundaries will vary from project to project.



DESIGN BRIEF

VISION BOUNDARIES

OWNERSHIP


What informs a vision?

The spatial potential of the exhibition/gallery space.

OWNERSHIP

DESIGN BRIEF

BOUNDARIES VISION

The potential of the content to create experiences

The desired experience for the target audience

Institutional strategic directions



The spatial potential of the exhibition/gallery space.

OWNERSHIP

DESIGN BRIEF

BOUNDARIES

The potential of the content to create experiences

The desired experience for the target audience

Institutional strategic directions

The vision for the design brief

balances the intent of the content

with ideas about the experience you

are hoping to create, what feelings

and emotions you are seeking

to evoke in your audience.

Kate Phillips – Senior curator,

Science Communication

VISION


OWNERSHIP

DESIGN BRIEF

BOUNDARIES

Often a museum feels like it has a

pretty good idea of what it wants.

The challenge is to still allow a

creative space for designers to respond.

Tim Rolfe – Head, Exhibitions, Museum Victoria


VISION


Audience: a general family audience. 44% of visitors to Melbourne Museum are children Exhibition Key intended learning outcomes: Cognitive: The balance of biodiversity continues to change Biodiversity is important, both globally and in Victoria Human activity affects biodiversity / Climate change affects biodiversity Affective: Awe/amazement regarding the breadth of existing diversity Maintenance of biodiversity is everyone’s responsibility Skills based: Making connections between global and local issues Space: Double height curved white architectural space. 400m2. Spilt level – with mezzanine.

Vision: On entering this exhibition the visitor will be in awe, immediately struck the dramatic, stylised presence of worldwide diversity – amazing mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles of all shapes, colours and sizes – which envelope the curved white architectural space. The double height scale of the gallery will be used to create an experience that allows visitors to ‘enter into’ the display, becoming part of the display; a giant curiosity cabinet of sorts. ........ it will capture visitors’ attention; and motivate them to find out more about these creatures and the environmental pressures they face......Victorian animals will ......

VISION Wild : amazing animals in a changing world


VISION Wild : amazing animals in a changing world

visually spectacular

LAYER ONE: WORLDWIDE DIVERSITY

LAYER TWO: VICTORIAN DIVERSITY

LAYER THREE: VICTORIAN ENVIRONMENTS

content detail

The creation of the design brief and vision was a very useful

experience. It forced the team to make decisions early. Not

design decisions but decisions about fundamental things

that would determine the ambitions and direction of the project.

Kate Phillips – Senior curator, Science Communication


WILD: AMAZING ANIMALS IN A CHANGING WORLD, MELBOURNE MUSEUM Photographer: Diana Snape


Vision

A life changing, mind blowing visitor experience where visitors:

Journey through the theatre of their mind

Encounter a world of diverse perceptions, thoughts, emotions, drama, dreams and realities Discover that the mind theatre is constructed and that they have the power to influence the script.

Aims

The Mind exhibition should:

•Add to a person’s existing knowledge and experience about their mind and brain; and the minds of others Stimulate discussion and debate on human behaviour, medical practice and definitions of “normality” Provide a gateway for mental health-based information Allow visitors to contribute information to an ongoing understanding of the mind.

Key exhibition audiences : The overall concept of the mind exhibition, by the nature of the subject, sits in Museum Victoria’s Informer segment. The Mind Project also has the potential to appeal to a senior secondary and to adult education audiences in a sophisticated, challenging and immersive format, especially combined with some key experiences offered in conjunction with the exhibition.

VISION Mind: enter the labyrinth


It’s really important to do your homework in advance. For the Mind exhibition the project team did a huge amount of work that combined information from preliminary front end evaluation, the definition of key audiences, brainstorming sessions and intensive consideration of the potential of ideas and directions. Content wasn’t the issue ... it was what kind of experience were we hoping to create. And it was a very useful exercise to have to put this all into words.

Nurin Veis – Senior curator, Mind exhibition

VISION Mind: enter the labyrinth


Vision:

Our future is exciting and challenging; and we have a choice of many paths....

Our vision of the future is dynamic and ephemeral.

Our actions – personal and collective - will direct what it could become. It could become many things. Our individual actions contribute to larger outcomes. Our futures are connected through local and global systems.

Our future is unknown. It is imagined through plausible predictions that are based on research and logic. It is imagined through visionary ideas that represent aspirations and fears.

The exhibition seeks to inspire visitors about the future, and their involvement in it. From the entrance onwards visitors need to feel a sense of wonder and be excited to explore the many paths the future may take. And the interconnectedness between things should be apparent.

Two key reference points are currently providing a metaphor for imagining this exhibition. The first is historic visions of ‘future’ cities as amazing places connected by layered linked structures .....

VISION Think Ahead: imagine the future


VISION

The vision elevates the design brief from being a purely

functional document. In my experience good design stems

from having a clear and inspiring vision. The vision gives the

designers something that sparks their imagination,

something from which they can begin to visualise....

Ronnie Fookes - Project Manager, Public Spaces


OWNERSHIP

DESIGN BRIEF

BOUNDARIES

In my opinion a bad – or passive – brief doesn’t have a vision. It allows no scope for creative design solutions and could be considered as simply a list of ‘wants’ or ‘not wants’. And often too long and too detailed a list! Or alternatively it is too open- ended and vague and doesn’t provide any guidance or direction for design thought. Either way this usually leads to a waste of design time and energy. Richard Glover – Senior Exhibition Designer


VISION


OWNERSHIP

DESIGN BRIEF

BOUNDARIES

OWNERSHIP

How do you define boundaries?

VISION


What informs boundaries?

BOUNDARIES

OH&S and risk requirements

Operational requirements

Production requirements

acquisitions and loans

Scope of collection

Conservation requirements

Scope of content to be displayed

Education and curriculum considerations

Front end evaluation and preliminary market research findings

Institutional strategic directions/agendas Why are you doing

this project? Your staff structure

Your resources/skills

Your project staff

House style/existing in-house design guidelines. Eg signage and labels systems

Community involvement or partnerships

Stakeholders and management expectations

Desired end date for project

Budget for project

Gallery/area where the exhibition/display is to be installed


Boundaries to define:

Approach to maintenance/cleaning

Expected lifespan of exhibit/exhibition

codes/certifications Rigging/hanging points

Materials/finishes Specifications

Object security

Approach to object lighting

Approach to mounts/framing/hanging

Content findings and relationships

And suggestions of interpretation

Target audience, and Information about them

Learning or communication objectives

Project aims

Relationship with other projects – website, publications, programs

Project background

Project methodology

Process for working with you – workshops, meetings etc

What will you will provide or contribute?

Design deliverables

Mandatory sub-consultants

Approach to graphic design, interactives, multimedia

External reporting requirements

Project timeframe/schedule

Size, m2

Existing structures to be re-used

Marketing campaign

Site access/egress

Internal approval and reporting requirements

Touring details

Showcasing and access

Recycling/sustainable materials Expected visitor numbers /frequency of use

Technical Specifications

BOUNDARIES

Preliminary cost plan

Prototyping and evaluation required Detailed object lists, including changeovers

Floor loading

Duration of experience


Use common sense:





Object security







Project aims


Project background

Project methodology



Design deliverables





Size, m2


Marketing campaign

Site access/egress


Touring details




BOUNDARIES



Floor loading



Constraints are not bad





Object security







Project aims


Project background

Project methodology



Design deliverables





Size, m2


Marketing campaign

Site access/egress


Touring details






Floor loading


Designers are not artists ... we like constraints – a problem to solve is a good thing. And even when there are seemingly really tight constraints there’s always room to move, something to challenge.

Peter Wilson – Senior Exhibition Designer


Do some hard work first





Object security







Project aims


Project background

Project methodology



Design deliverables





Size, m2


Marketing campaign

Site access/egress


Touring details






Floor loading


Within seemingly straightforward objectives a good brief pulls out the deeper things people want and distinguishes between wish list items and genuine needs.

It gets to the core of things. Naomi Fogel , Exhibition Designer


Be honest

BOUNDARIES

OH&S and risk requirements

Operational requirements

Production requirements

acquisitions and loans

Scope of collection

Conservation requirements

Scope of content to be displayed

Education and curriculum considerations

Front end evaluation and preliminary market research findings

Institutional strategic directions/agendas Why are you doing

this project? Your staff structure

Your resources/skills

Your project staff

House style/existing in-house design guidelines. Eg signage and labels systems

Community involvement or partnerships

Stakeholders and management expectations

Desired end date for project

Budget for project

Gallery/area where the exhibition/display is to be installed

You need to bring it all to the table – do not be lazy or cowardly! And don’t expect to work things out on the go.

Linda Sproul - Public programs manager, Museum Victoria


Be realistic

OWNERSHIP

DESIGN BRIEF

VISION BOUNDARIES

It is important to know that what

you’re asking for is realistic and

do-able.

Do some research to work out

where you need to define detail,

and where it is better to leave it

open for the designer to define.

This will help you spend time

and money effectively.

Andrew Lewis – Manager, Exhibitions

Scienceworks


Be clear

A design brief is clear and concise .

It doesn’t hand over content research

but acknowledges research has been

done and distils it into curatorial

directions and findings.

Corinne Balaam – Senior exhibition designer

DESIGN BRIEF

VISION BOUNDARIES


DESIGN BRIEF

VISION BOUNDARIES

OWNERSHIP

Be self aware

Knowing what sort of client you are will

help define your working relationship

with the designers.

Ronnie Fookes

Project Manager, Public Spaces


The project team

Managers/ the project’s steering group

Executive management

Other contributing staff – collection managers, conservators, curators

Production and Technical staff

The designers

Education and programs staff

Customer service staff

Volunteers

Operations staff

Owning the design brief

OWNERSHIP

DESIGN BRIEF

BOUNDARIES VISION


Ownership – a common foundation for the team Being a demanding client is ok – and challenging the design is ok – and often a rigorous discussion can lead to better design outcomes. However the design brief forms the basis for this dialogue –it should not be about personal opinions.

Linda Sproul - Public programs manager, Museum Victoria


OWNERSHIP

DESIGN BRIEF

BOUNDARIES VISION

Ownership – supporting the project The project’s vision needs to be embedded within the larger vision of an institution, otherwise it will always struggle. At Museum Victoria this includes strategic directions about our research and collecting, and our plans to meet the our visitors’ needs and grow our audiences. Dr Robin Hirst Director, Collections, Research and Exhibitions, Museums Victoria


The design brief: setting a project up for success

DESIGN BRIEF

VISION BOUNDARIES

OWNERSHIP

EXHIBITION BRIEF




Documents

The design brief - AMaGA Vic · The creation of the design brief and vision was a very useful . experience. It forced the team to make decisions early. Not . design decisions but