Made in Birmingham

We were commissioned by Birmingham City Council and Standard 8 to create the identity and graphics for an exhibition celebrating Birmingham's infamous 1886 exhibition of Local Manufacturers and Natural History.

We were supplied with a vast archive of fantastic visual reference from the original exhibition. Our challenge was find the best way create a look from this material whilst bringing the design up-to-date.

Central to the identity was a bespoke typeface that we created based on the original hand-painted signs from the show. The typeface used wasn’t a typical decorative Victorian face, it was a simple sans serif – much more industrial and more relevant for a contemporary exhibition.

• Exhibition design: Standard 8