"That's the old logo!" I hear you cry. Well yes, it certainly is. However, this isn't a blog about Hat-trick's new identity for the Imperial War Museums, but a visit to IWM North in Salford. Plus, since the visit came before the release of said identity, let's take a leaf out of the subject matter and delve into the past.
Since joining Raw many moons ago, I've definitely done the rounds of Manchester's museums and galleries. Salford Quay's broken globe had — until last Sunday — evaded me. First of all, the building itself: renowned architect, Daniel Libeskind designed the building from a 'shattered globe'. The concept reflecting the effect that war has on the world. This concept has since been tweaked to form the basis of the new IWM identity that was released just this week.
Once you enter, the main gallery is like an aircraft hold. It's a huge hall that has been cut and divided into sections. It's a very impressive space, certainly more Eurofighter than Spitfire.
Despite the abundance of guns, tanks and even a Harrier jet, most of my attention was taken by the various prints and posters. I photographed everything that featured a typeface, however due to the low light and crappy 'point-and-shoot' most of my documentation came out blurry. Let this be a lesson to all.
Every hour the lights drop and a video plays all around the interior with dozens of projectors and ambient sound. The multiple projectors, unorthodox architecture and impressive sound system combine to create a dramatic experience. On the credits I noticed a couple of the videos were created by fellow Mill-ites, Soup Collective.
There was a special exhibition about the role of war media commentary. I had seen a similar exhibition in Amsterdam's Foam Gallery, but that was purely photography-based. This had a much more child-friendly approach with less focus on death and destruction and more on dressing-up like Martin Bell. Having said that, the final display was an infographic about how many reporters had been killed over the last decade.
The gift shop, always the best place to end a museum/gallery visit, was filled with the — hopefully soon to be out of vogue — Keep Calm posters, mugs, pencils, pregnancy tests etc. However, there were some great postcards of a similar ilk, including a great line that I may now live my life by:
"To dress extravagantly in War time is worse than bad form, it is unpatriotic."
Written by our senior designer, Tom.
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