UNIT 2.1 | EUSTON ROAD PROJECTMAULSHREE | MRES INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS

What strategies Cultural Institutions on Euston road can pick from retail to Better Communicate What’s Inside from the Outside?

RESEARCH QUESTION

SUB QUESTIONS

o What strategies can be used to attract public and encourage them to explore inside the institutions?

o Cultural destinations are competing with retail and leisure destinations for the weekend outing. If we look at these cultural institutions as “Nation brands”, what strategies can we use for their brand building?

o A case study on the Crypt gallery

The Retail Mantra:

Signage to attract customers, window displays to entice them, and open doors to lure them inside… Retailers have probably left no stone un-turned in finding new strategies and lucrative ways to ‘get the customer in’

It takes eight seconds to walk by a typical storefront. Once someone is two seconds past the door, they will not turn around. You have to grab them in the first four seconds while they are approaching.

Therefore, retailers follow the AIDA principleAttentionInterestDesire Action

“I am one of the few museum-goers in my group of friends. Most of the times, if any go, it's because I drag them along. I finally discovered the main reason behind. They're intimidated by most museums, and only feel slightly more comfortable if they go with someone that's already been there. Even just the facade of the museum or the number of steps up to the entrance can be intimidating” - Ana Abarca Lyman

“Despite having studied a subject at University that demanded numerous trips to galleries, I have never been a fan. I am haunted by childhood memories of being hauled past De Koonings and Rembrandts dismayed, tired, headachy and bewildered by an attraction that, for me, held no joy. Galleries, as an adult, if more interesting, are still short on fun. There is, or has been, a seriousness surrounding art which demands a puritanical silence in its presence, the same silence one finds in libraries and cathedrals.” – Eve Peasnall

THE CRYPT GALLERY – A CASE STUDY

DIRECTIONS TO THE CRYPT GALLERY…

THE CRYPT GALLERY

If this gallery were a store, would you enter it?

The Crypt of St Pancras Parish Church was designed and used for coffin burials from 1822, when the Church was opened, to 1854, when the crypts of all London churches were closed to burials. Crypt burial was seen as a slightly better alternative to the overcrowded village burial grounds for those who could afford it...and a useful revenue for the churches.

In both World Wars the Crypt was used as an air raid shelter.

This peaceful place is still the final home of 557 people.

The Crypt Today In 2002 the Crypt at St Pancras Church became a gallery space where the imagination, thoughts and emotions of 21st century artists are shared with visitors from around the world. Now this popular venue hosts a year-round programme of art exhibitions.THE CRYPT GALLERY

THE CRYPT GALLERY – A CASE STUDY

o Who is the target audience?

o How to break down the “threshold fear” (perceived elitism, fear of being made to feel unwelcome)?

o How can this gallery benefit from distinctive signage in order to draw more unassuming patrons from the street.

o However a noted trend in the case of many museums, it’s striking design features become the ‘actual signage’ of the museum. How can that be used as an advantage (the red door)?

o How to lead the visitor from the signage to the ‘back door’ entrance?

o Look at other Crypt galleries and the Welcome Collection. What strategies they use and how effective they are?

Striking architecture

Signage

Signage

Information about what’s inside

Signage

Thank You