Just My Speed by Carrie A. Donovan

Just My Speed A Speed Art Museum graphic design internâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workÂ and experience with rebranding

Carrie A. Donovan

Just My Speed A Speed Art Museum graphic design internâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workÂ and experience with rebranding

Carrie A. Donovan

Written and designed by Carrie A. Donovan, 2016. The design work featured is also by Carrie A. Donovan. If it was a team project, that is explained in the text.

First Things First For all the Speed Art Museum Staff from August 2014 until now—thank you for your dedication, passion for art, and constant encouragement. I’m so honored that I got to be a part of this crazy, exciting time with all of you. For Ghislain d’Humières—thank you for your amazing vision for the Speed and for letting interns be part of it. And especially for Steven Bowling and Andy Perez— who both should win “best boss” awards—thank you for challenging me and always cheering me on.

Contents Fact of Life #1: Explaining my job is worth it . . . . . . . . . 9 Part 1: Before the Rebrand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 We need a 12x3 foot banner ASAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 A small part of Wall Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Great art speaks for itself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Great Britain United Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 A lot can happen in 19 minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 …And some things take months . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Other people make my work better . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Make it look real…but not too real . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Fact of Life #2: I can do this all day and be happy . . . . 31 Part 2: Rebrand In Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 In between brands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Banner design deja vu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Speed meets NYC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Welcome to the Speed Art Musuem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 One form to rule them all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Excellent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

A lesson in photography and Photoshop masking . . . . 46 Rebranding, down and dirty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Come with me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Typography redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Save the rejects for a rainy day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Done and on time beats perfect and late . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Fact of Life #3: One day, it will all be trash . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Part 3: Full Speed Ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 A little Photoshop and a lot of imagination . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Letterforms class actually pays off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Designing a gallery is teamwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Cue elevator music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Cinema this way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Fashion design intern? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 A tale of proofing and Pantones and printers . . . . . . . . 74 It’s really happening! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 First impressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Thinking on a big screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 A non-stop party means non-stop edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Fact of Life #4: A great team makes all the difference 87 Fact of Life #5: Some jobs are not just jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

The main entrance to the newÂ Speed Art Museum.

Fact of Life #1:

Explaining my job is worth it. I get a lot of weird questions when I tell people from outside of Louisville that I work at the Speed Art Museum. Some people think it’s a car museum (race cars, maybe?). Other people have wondered if the museum displays “speed art,” as in, art done quickly. So to clear up any confusion, let me just say that the Speed Art Museum is none of those things. Speed is a last name, not an adjective. And did you notice that art is in the name?

I interned at an art museum. A good one.

Enjoying the Lichtenstein at the Speed Opening Gala inÂ MarchÂ 2016.

We even have a Lichtenstein. …And a Rembrandt, a Brancusi, a Monet, an Alice Neel, two Picassos, and so much more. The Speed has always been great, but it became even better at the end of a 3.5-year renovation that finished up in March 2016. I had the chance to be a graphic design intern beginning in August 2014, so I got to see the museum take shape and be part of their rebranding process. As someone who loves art, it was the coolest internship ever. I even got to sneak peeks at the art before the museum reopened to the public. And as a graphic designer, it was the coolest internship ever. I got to make things every day, and almost all of them ended up out in the world in some way. I also got to help with the Speed’s brand rollout, which was a unique way to see how the things I learn in school apply in the real world.

This book showcases my work as an intern and the lessons I learned along the way.

Before the Rebrand When I started my internship, the Speed was planning for a rollout of their new branding designed by Power Creative, but they were still using their old logo combined with the Local Speed logo for their space in NuLu. There weren’t any visual guidelines to go along with the old logo, so I had a huge amount of freedom to create the look and feel of the projects I was given. It was unique opportunity to start from scratch every time. Even though I look back on many of these projects now and don’t think they are top-notch work, the experience I had early on with idea generation and brainstorming new concepts each time was valuable.

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

We need a 12x3 foot banner ASAP. I had never designed anything bigger than a piece of paper. And one of the first projects I was given at my internship was a 12x3 foot banner for a picnic…that we needed yesterday. It needed to match some existing materials for the picnic that had been designed before I got there. Talk about diving into the deep end! Knowing what I know almost two years later, I tackled that project in just about the worst way possible. But the picnic had a banner all right, and getting it designed and produced on time was a great feeling.

The banner I designed for the Art in the Park Picnic.

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

A small part of WallÂ Together. I love the vision of Wall Together: the Speed partners with nonprofits to do art projects in the community that become exhibitions. IÂ loved getting to participate in this project in a small way. Starting early on in my internship, I had the chance to design the postcards for each exhibit. They were inspired by the content and medium of the art created, which meant I often got to play with art supplies to come up with the designs! The Wall Together postcards were some of the most wildly creative things I got to work on, since each postcard sought to capture the exhibit it related to.

Two of the postcards, incorporating watercolor and collage elements I created.

T H E

C O L O R

O F

M Y

W O R L D

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Great art speaks for itself. Some of the projects I worked on featured images of artworks—and those were the times that my work as a designer was the easiest. Remix was an exhibition of glass at Local Speed. The artworks themselves were fascinating, and we had great photographs of them. So it seemed best to let the images speak for themselves and not over-design.

The Remix poster in the window of Local Speed.

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Great Britain United Kingdom A favorite project from the beginning of my internship was the design for the first Global Speed Series, which are art talks about a specific country or area each year. At first, I thought that year’s series was about Great Britain. I wanted to create a hand-drawn typography title for the series, so I drew and traced some “Great Britain” script to use on my postcard concepts. I got good feedback on the style of my designs, but there was just one little change: the title was Global Speed Series: United Kingdom. My boss told me this and said, “you drew that typography yourself, right?” Yep. But there was nothing either of us could do about it. It was a good opportunity to just laugh and draw the type for United Kingdom. At least it went faster the second time around!

My original script and one of the finished postcards.

“Insider Trading: Inside the International Art Market” Art Talk by Anna Somers Cocks

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

A lot can happen in 19 minutes. One big difference between school and an internship is the need for speed (no pun intended). One afternoon shortly before I was going to leave for the day, the special events department needed a drink recipe designed. I finished it within the 19 minutes I had left and even incorporated an edit from my boss! It was actually kind of fun playing beat-the-clock, and I learned that working efficiently is really valuable in a work setting.

My 19-minute drink menu.

FRENCH 95 Z

Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage Bourbon Simple Syrup Lemon Juice Orange Juice Topped with Champagne Garnished with Orange Peel

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

…And some things take months. While some projects took 19 minutes or less, others took a lot longer, like a brochure I designed for the Patron Circle, one of the Speed’s membership groups. We settled on a design direction fairly early on, but the content of the brochure kept changing, and we had to get special permission from Roy Lichtenstein’s estate to crop the image on the cover of the brochure. Sometimes there are factors beyond my control as a designer, and I learned to be okay with that and be patient when things took longer than anyone hoped. In the end, even if it was months later, we had a brochure printed— and it showcased one of my very favorite artworks in the Speed’s collection.

The Patron Circle Brochure featuring “Wallpaper with Blue Floor Interior” by Roy Lichtenstein.

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Other people make my work better. In designing the materials for the Speed’s 2015 summer camps, I did an illustration of a campfire made of paintbrushes, combining the ideas of “camp” and “art.” I really thought I had knocked it out of the park, so I designed two different concepts based on that theme. My “clients” in the education department liked my designs visually, but the campfire idea just wouldn’t work since people in the community were confused about the Speed summer camps, thinking that they were “outdoorsy” when they weren’t. A campfire visual would just reinforce the misconception. I had to revisit my idea, and in the end, the feedback I got helped me come up with a design that worked a lot better than what I originally thought was so brilliant. It was a great lesson in how the input of others can help my work.

My first illustrations and the final summer camp design.

Original concepts

THE SPEED ART MUSEUM

Final design

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Make it look real…but not too real. It’s not every day that you get to design a dollar bill. A quick, fun project I did was to design an award for the winning chef at a special event combining art and food, featuring a $500 bill with Alice Neel’s painting Priscilla Johnson on it. If $500’s ever go back into circulation, I think Priscilla Johnson’s head looks pretty good on them, right?

The chef’s award I designed, featuring an artsy $500 bill.

! s n o i t a l u t a r Cong

l at e ! t t e to Pa e l a P â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s e c E x pe r ie n

s. S pe e d r t h e A rt e f at t h e h e F u n d fo c h t g y b in n ed o n at e w in ero u sly d Yo uâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re t h pr iz e* , g en c ep t t h is P le as e ac

ed be prov id h ic h w il l ip t. ce $5 00 .0 0, w re to f o er s ar ay it h in 10 d tl es th e be w ti , m en e eu at us if ic rt M *Th is ce rt e Spee d A ec k by th rm o f a ch fo e th in d by Sp o n so re

Fact of Life #2:

I can do this all day and be happy. Out of everything I learned at my internship, the most valuable lesson was that I really love working as a designer, not just in class but in the real world. Very early on in my internship while we were still working at Local Speed, I started realizing that a day’s work as a designer was something I could get used to. Knowing that I picked the right career path was incredibly reassuring, and getting almost two years of real-world experience while I was still in school is an opportunity I’m grateful for.

I learned that I love design as much as I thought I did.

Rebrand In Motion Having no restraints as a designer is both a blessing and a curse. After about a year with minimal rules to follow, I started to see that having a brand identity would be a huge time saver—and that having projects with so many different design looks could get overwhelming fast. I had a chance to see the branding Power Creative designed for the Speed long before it was public, so I knew that once we started using it, it would be a huge part of reimagining the museum for the grand opening in March 2016. By the time we could roll out the new brand, I was so ready.

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

In between brands. I quickly learned that the rebranding process is a process, not a switch you can turn on. The 2015–16 Speed Concert Series was a project that straddled both the old look and the new branding from Power Creative, so I had the task of creating something that followed the new brand guidelines but didn’t rely on the new logo or typeface (since those were still a secret from most of the world). I pulled from the new colors and used Helvetica (a supporting brand font) for the typography, but the first postcard in the series still used the old logo.

The postcards from the 2015–16 Speed Concert Series.

FALCON MOTHER

LLEE O S BEN ON

I LCON GRAT A F I HER MOT LL M FA THE

2015 –16 SPEED CONCERT SERIES

U T A R E F S NO EE BEN SOLL

CERT CINE-CON

MED BY D PERFOR RITTEN AN ABRAMS SCORE W S TEDDY ORIGINAL CHESTRA’ OR E ILL SV THE LOUI

NATHAN GUNN

BARITONE

T SERIES CONCER 2015 –16

2015 –16 SPEED CO NCERT SE RIES

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Banner design deja vu. Oddly enough, while the 2014 picnic banner was one of the first projects I did as an intern, the 2015 picnic banner and poster sign were some of the first things to showcase the new branding. This was one of many projects that I had the chance to repeat once the new branding was in use. For any of those projects, there were a dozen things I wanted to do differently a year later. I was always glad when I got the chance to correct the mistakes I didn’t know I made the first time, or even rework the look of a project completely.

The new-brand poster I created for Art in the Park 2015.

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Speed meets NYC. I designed a lot of email invitations for events as part of my internship, and the coolest one was an invitation for a press conference the Speed held in New York to get word out about the reopening. This happened pretty early on in the brand rollout, so I was just beginning to figure out ways to use our logo and typography successfully.

The email I designed for the NewÂ York press conference.

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Welcome to the Speed Art Musuem. I didn’t design the business card for the Speed’s new look, but it was my job to add all the staff information to the new design. After I finished and my two bosses had both checked over the proofs, we decided to let a coworker who is a great editor look at them before we sent them to print, just for good measure. She noticed that the word “museum” was misspelled on every business card! It was a close call, but thankfully, we had time to change it. Lesson learned: Proofreaders are basically superheroes.

The business card design and a few notes from our proofreader’s desperately needed red pen.

Andy Perez Graphic Design and Communications Manager Speed Art Musuem 2035 S 3rd St Louisville, KY 40208 502.634.2735 aperez@speedmuseum.org speedmuseum.org

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

One form to rule them all.* For their various membership groups, the Speed had an eclectic group of sign up forms that were inconsistent and overwhelming for everyone. As we were rebranding, I got to tackle the project of merging them into one form. This didn’t seem like the most creative or inspiring project at first, but looking back, it was one of the most rewarding things I got to do at my internship, since I knew the end result would actually impact people’s experience with the Speed—even if it was in a mundane way. And to my surprise, a Speed member commented on how great the new form was. Who knew people would get that excited about a membership form? * The form later became several matching forms, but still, establishing a consistent look helped.

My form design, combining five different forms into one.

MEMBERSHIP FORM Your Information

Membership Options

Contact Information

General Membership

Name Title

Mr.

Ms.

Mrs.

Other ____________

Mr.

Reciprocal $140

Family $100

Supporter $250

Patron Circle

Name (2nd member) Title

Individual + Guest $70

Ms.

Mrs.

Other ____________

Address

Nonprofit/Artist $350–$499

Gold $1,000 –$2,499

Silver $500–$999

Platinum $2,500–$4,999

You must be a member of the Patron Circle at any level in order to join a Collector Group.

City

State

Phone

Speed Contemporary / Collector Group

Zip Home

Work

Cell

Email Work

Under 40 Single $450

Regular Single $1,300

Under 40 Dual $700

Regular Dual $1,500

Charter Collectors / Collector Group

Personal

Payment Options Pay in full Pay in monthly installments of $__________ using the credit card information below. Your card will automatically be charged on the 15th

Under 40 Single $500

Regular Dual $2,000

Under 40 Dual $700

Patrons $3,400

Regular Single $1,800

Benefactors $5,000

Decorative Arts Collectors / Collector Group

of every month. This option is only available for gifts of $500 or more.

Professional Single $250

Regular Dual $850

Pledge: Please bill me the entire amount on the following date: / / This option is not available for General Membership.

Professional Dual $350

Sustaining Single $1,400

Regular Single $750

Sustaining Dual $1,500

Payment Method Check Enclosed— payable to The Speed Art Museum Credit Card Visa MasterCard

American Express Discover

Card Number Exp. Date

CSC Code

Name on Card Billing Address

Acknowledgment Preferences I/We would like to be acknowledged on signage and print materials as follows:

Cinephiles / Collector Group Supporter Dual $750

Sustaining Dual $1,500

International Benefactor Circle Donor Circle $5,000–$9,999

Director Circle $25,000–$49,999

Curator Circle $10,000–$24,999

Artist Circle $50,000+

Complimentary membership in one Collector Group (For Curator Circle and above only):

Speed Contemporary

Decorative Arts

Charter

Cinephiles

Total Gift / $ Signature Date

I/We prefer to be listed as Anonymous Questions? Please contact Kristina Gerard at 502.634.2983 or kgerard@speedmuseum.org. Please return this form to The Speed Art Museum, 2035 S 3rd St, Louisville, KY 40208

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Excellent I’m probably not the only designer who shudders at the sight of spreadsheets. But the Speed needed a refreshed spreadsheet for tracking the terms of their Board members that made sense and was visually appealing. Since anyone needed to be able to update it, it needed to be created in Microsoft Excel. Excel still isn’t my favorite, but this project ended up being a wonderful design challenge for me. I even managed to find Microsoft colors that are a little bit similar to the Speed’s brand colors.

Part of one of the spreadsheets I worked on.

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

A lesson in photography and Photoshop masking. The Speed’s 2016 Summer Camp materials gave me the chance to brush up on some helpful skills I don’t get to use all the time. I knew that one of the image styles our brand guidelines suggest is to crop or mask photos into our logo, and I realized pretty early on in the process that I wanted to try that for the Summer Camp materials. As the project went on, it became clear that we needed some new photos of art projects to use in the brochure. So, one day I got to have a little photo shoot with some summer camp projects. The photos on the front of the postcard and brochure are mine. The final design involved a lot of Photoshop masking—not the quickest technique ever. But the colored backgrounds and masked photos bring contrast and fun to the design that I think works well for a kids’ camp. It was fun figuring out how to apply the new branding to a different audience.

The Summer Camp brochure I designed—and took some of the photos for.

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Rebranding, down and dirty. When you rebrand, you rebrand everything. One thing that had to change was the artwork on the crates that the education department uses to bring art objects into schools for their Art Detectives program. The old “wrapping” that decorated the crates had a lot going on, and with the rebranding, we wanted to simplify the crates with just a Speed logo. So, I spent several hours one day in the basement storage room ripping off the old stickers from the crates and applying vinyl logos. The work of a designer can be more of a workout than you’d expect!

The new and improved Art Detectives crates.

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Come with me. After one of the Wall Together projects was completed, I was asked to design a book using the Holga photographs and poems students from the West End School created as part of the project. The boys’ photographs and words are so compelling, and the book design came together easily with such great content. This was my favorite of the Wall Together projects I had the chance to design for.

Some of the pages from the book I designed with the West End School students’ photographs.

KENJII

LUKE

Always Live Your Dreams/Opportunity

Come With Me

Come with me and I’ll show you a place of great

Come with me and I’ll show you a brand-new

dreams of my future. I’ll show you where I’m headed towards. Come with me and you’ll see a gathering of cheerful memories. Come with me and you’ll hear the encouragement of my peers. Come with me and you’ll understand how challenging it is to come this far. Come with me and you’ll feel the wonder I feel, if I’m going to make it. Come with me and you’ll know the other side of me.

place where the light is dim and the colors are diverse. I’ll show you paths that are two, three, and four ways and never stop. Come with me and you’ll see how they never stop and are internal. Come with me and you’ll hear joy of diversity, and birds sing their own type of music. Come with me and you’ll understand your path and joy. Your kind and your type. Come with me and you’ll feel the abundance of power, of love, of courage, and of thoughts. Come with me and you’ll know where you’re at, but you’re not there yet.

CALEB

AHMAD N.

Come With Me

Come with me and I’ll show you an intelligent,

Come with me and I’ll show you the blank mind

inspiring, fresh, creative, basic world. I’ll show you a lovely, light path to humorous, clear fun. Come with me and you’ll see magical, memorable moments of life. Come with me and you’ll hear loud, surprising music. Come with me and you’ll understand trustworthy, wealthy, and heavenly way of getting through life. Come with me and you’ll feel warm, perfect, sweet and simple.

of a pig. I’ll show you the dark side of a horse. Come with me and you’ll see the sweet side of a witch. Come with me and you’ll hear the meek side of Mill. Come with me and you’ll understand the world is under his hands. Come with me and you’ll feel the lovely side of mean girls. Come with me and you’ll know weave comes from a horse.

Come with me and you’ll know remarkable things about you.

GUISTAVE

BRENT

Come With Me

Come with me and I’ll show you the

Come with me and I’ll show you to be scared

memorable world. I’ll show you the memorable world behind the cloud of stars. Come with me and you’ll see the planet, the one you wish was there but it eludes you. Come with me and you’ll hear the planets roar after the light flashes. Come with me and you’ll understand life

out of your mind. I’ll show you to stay scared and never be brave. Come with me and you’ll see no life. Come with me and you’ll hear nothing. Come with me and you’ll understand why you’re nobody. Come with me and you’ll feel nothing. Come with me and you’ll know nothing.

is unknown. Come with me and you’ll feel remarkable. Come with me and you’ll know the world.

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Typography redo. As part of the concert series, we needed a program for the Nosferatu cine-concert. I had designed a program for a cineconcert the year before, so I thought I would just modify my first design. I was so disappointed in myself when I opened up that file to find huge typography and no paragraph styles! Oh the horror! I had learned a lot about typography in a little over a year. I reworked the typography for the new program and feel confident about the result. Of course I know that nobody in the audience would’ve paid attention to the difference, but it’s always good to know I’m not guilty of typography crimes.

The typography on my first concert program and the updated one for Nosferatu.

The title is in a separate text box from the body copy. Not good.

Way too big for body copy, and the leading is too tight (11/13.5).

One text box, smaller body copy, and better leading (9.5/14).

Synopsis of Metropolis Set in the near future, the society of Metropolis is divided in two distinct classes; there are the city planners who live a life of luxury on the surface of the city, and the workers who toil endlessly in the factories below. The leader of Metropolis, Joh Fredersen, manages to maintain this disparate system; however, unrest is mounting underneath the city.

SYNOPSIS OF NOSFERATU The film begins in Wisborg, where newlyweds Hutter and Ellen are separated when real estate agent Knock (Hutter’s employer) orders his associate to visit a new client, the reclusive Count Orlok of Transylvania. Despite the feverish warnings of the local peasants, Hutter arrives at Orlok’s sinister castle alone. During his stay, Hutter discovers that Orlok is no ordinary mortal when he witnesses the vampiric nobleman loading himself into a coffin in preparation for his journey to Wisborg. 53

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Save the rejects for a rainy day. For a Local Speed exhibit, I had come up with a postcard concept with a simple map illustration. It didn’t end up being the right direction for that exhibit, but it ended up being useful later. Pro tip: save everything! The first Wall Together exhibit in the museum was called Making Our Way Home. The visual of a map with roads leading home made sense to me, and I had the map illustration already from the previous project. I was able to pull from what I’d done, adjust the design a little bit, incorporate our brand colors and typefaces, and come up with something that I think communicates the idea of the Wall Together project. Who would have known that the map was a good idea after all—just for a different project than I had planned.

The old postcard I didn’t use, and the Wall Together postcard that incorporates the map.

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M AK IN G OU R WAY HO M E: ST OR IE S FR OM LO UI SV IL LE AN D BE YO ND

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Done and on time beats perfect and late. As the opening approached, we had a lot of crazy days in the office, but the annual report project just might take the cake when it comes to complexity and tight deadlines. My boss and I had started an annual report design over the summer, but the project was put on hold until close to the opening when we needed it ASAP. So, I took what we had done and pulled it together with the new information we had. Then InDesign’s quick apply feature was my BFF for formatting all the information, including long and detailed lists of the museum’s art acquisitions and donors. There are still things about my work that I’m not 100% proud of when it comes to the layout and typography, but we got this project out the door on time, and the guests at the opening gala had a nice report to introduce them to the new museum.

Some pages from the annual report design I worked on.

Fact of Life #3:

One day, it will all be trash. When we moved offices from Local Speed to the museum a few months before the reopening, it was a good time to get rid of extra files and copies of projects we didn’t need. In that process, I threw away unnecessary copies of a lot of the projects I had done. When I was looking at stacks of old postcards I had designed, ready to be recycled, it hit me that my work is temporary. That was a really liberating thing for me. I didn’t make anything to be included in MoMA’s permanent design collection, and I didn’t have to. I did my best, it was enough, and then it was trash.

I learned that my work doesn’t last forever, and that’s completely okay.

Full Speed Ahead As March 12 crept closer, a lot of my work turned to projects that would be in the museum itself. Much of it was teamwork with my bosses and required a lot of conversations with other people on staff as we tested many, many variations of signage, name badges, logos for shirts, and so on. This time in my internship taught me so much about how many details go into any huge project—like opening a museum. It allowed me to try designing things I had never done before and see them being used in the new museum. I loved that I got to be a small part of all that went into the new Speed.

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

A little Photoshop and a lot of imagination. In the process of deciding on signage options, I had the chance to do a couple mockups from the architectural renderings we had of the museum. The renderings themselves are pretty realistic, so it was fun to imagine what the space would look like when it was complete, signage and all!

This mockup shows an option for a donor recognition sign for the Museum’s Grand Staircase. Rendering by wHY.

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Letterforms class actually pays off. I was asked to test out some typography options for the gallery signs in the new museum: Garamond Bold, in 3, 4, and 5 inch letters. After I’d already started, something from a letterforms class resurfaced from the depths of my memory: isn’t type size measured from the ascender to the descender? And isn’t it related to point size somehow? (File that under “nerdy thoughts only designers think.”) So I Googled a little bit, and ended up checking some previous type tests my boss had done. Sure enough, that tidbit from class that I barely remembered ended up being correct. How you measure type makes a big difference!

The difference between 3 inch type measured correctly and incorrectly.

3 inch type from ascender to descender. 216 points, since 72 points = 1 inch. Correct!

3 inch type where the capital letter is 3 inches. It’s much bigger than the correct version, and this method would be slightly different for each letter. Incorrect!

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Designing a gallery is teamwork. My boss had already come up with the concepts for some maps for the Kentucky Gallery in the new museum, and I had the task of drawing each version in Illustrator. The design work was informed by extensive work the curatorial staff had already done choosing paint colors and planning the layout of the gallery itself, not to mention the preparators who installed the art. So many people are involved in making a gallery come to life! Even though my part was small, I got to work on a project that would find a home in the museum. Seriously, what a cool job that is.

One of the maps I worked on for the Kentucky Gallery.

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Cue elevator music. There are some projects I did that were just so cool I was pinching myself to make sure it was real (and wondering why in the world someone trusted me to do it). The parking garage elevator wraps were one of those. My boss had some ideas for branding the parking garage and asked me to design and mock up something. A few changes had to be made, but my elevator wrap design became real! It’s fun seeing my work in the parking garage (even if the sign company didn’t use the font I chose for the numbers). I think I was so excited about this project because there’s something thrilling in knowing that my design will impact other people, even if 99.9% of them will never know I had anything to do with it.

The first floor elevator in the parking garage.

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Cinema this way. These signs for the outside of the museum were very much a team project that involved multiple designers and multiple people’s suggestions and edits. I had the chance to come up with some of the original concepts and mock them up using photos. I also got to help decide how the arrows should be added to direct people to the main entrance and cinema entrance. So even though the cool finished product isn’t all mine, it’s fun to know that I played a part in the final outcome.

One of the final outdoor signs from the group that I worked on.

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Fashion design intern? One of the most amusing projects I got to do as an intern was illustrate some concepts for new uniforms employees would wear in the new museum. My boss communicated the ideas to me, and I created some visuals that the decision-makers could reference and discuss. The actual uniforms weren’t exactly the same as what I showed, but I had a blast creating various outfit combinations. Some of the comments I got while I was working on the designs were “you could start a parochial school!” and “they look like paper dolls!” Too bad the museum store isn’t selling them as paper dolls. (I’m sure they’d fly off the shelves.)

A few of the many outfit illustrations I created.

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

A tale of proofing and Pantones and printers. The most logistically complex project I worked on as an intern was definitely the name badges for the staff, Board members, and docents. It started out as a fun “real time” design project with my boss looking over my shoulder directing the design. The process of getting the name badges finalized and printed, though, was a long and dramatic one. It included a lot of moving pieces: every person’s name had to be correct, their titles had to be up to date, and the docents needed to have years of service included on their badges. That required lots of proofing. I had to list the Pantone values for the printer and make sure they had the correct type of PDF. I had a few phone calls with the printer to make sure we were on the same page. Then more hiccups in the process came up when we thought all was said and done and my bosses had multiple other phone calls with the printer before everything was finalized. To make a long story short, we all had name badges by the opening gala. And I got some good project management experience working with the printer on this project.

Holding my name badge in my hand was such a victory!

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really happening! Getting the museum tabs designed a few months before the reopening was a fun reminder that it was really happeningâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; the renovations were finishing up, and the museum would be full of people again soon. Projects like this may not be the most innovative on my end, since I was working with a logo and color scheme I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t design, but they are exciting to me because I can see the real difference my work is making. Thousands of people will get these museum tabs on their way in to see some amazing art, and I can know that I designed that little plastic tab.

The museum tabs I designed using some of the brand colors.

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

First impressions. One exciting project right before the reopening was the group of materials for the guest relations desk. My boss had already designed the map, and I got to design related pieces for membership, the cinema, and Social Speed (adult programming). All the pieces had to have a similar look and be very on-brand since the guest relations desk is what people see when they first enter the museum.

Some front desk pieces IÂ designedÂ to match our look.

OD JOIN T

AY!

SPEED CINEMA MARCH–APRIL 2016

SOCIA L S PE E D 2016

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

Thinking on a big screen. One of the final projects before reopening was content for the video wall above the guest relations desk and for other video monitors around the museum. The content was for the 30-hour opening celebration and the events leading up to it, but the project also involved thinking through how we could use these screens in the future. I came up with slide designs for all the programs and announcements we needed to feature, but when we tested them on the screens, it became clear that there was too much going on. I needed to back-pedal and stick to a few simple layouts, or the screens would be overstimulating. We also learned in testing that each design needed to span over three video screens and look like one image. Creating a visual system for the video monitors was a real challenge, and we didn’t have all the time in the world. This was a project that required some extra hours and a lot of feedback and discussions with the rest of the marketing team. More than once, I had to ask, “Does this make sense?” or “This looks really weird to me—what do you think?” Tackling this project made me appreciate my team.

The design displayed on the video wall behind the guest relations desk is one of the ones I worked on.

Before the Rebrand

Rebrand In Motion

Full Speed Ahead

A non-stop party means non-stop edits. The 30-hour opening celebration was an “all hands on deck” event, and it was amazing to be part of the staff that weekend, not just doing design work but volunteering to help direct all our guests. On the design side, I helped with some of the event schedule designs, both signage for the spaces and an “at-a-glance” style schedule that guests could carry around. All of these projects went through rounds and rounds of edits and changes as the event plans changed leading up to the grand reopening. It was a great exercise in being flexible. It was also cool to watch guests—over 16,000 throughout the 30 hours—consult the schedules I helped design! All those edits were worth it, because we had an unforgettable weekend of music, art, performances, and fun.

One of the schedule signs I worked on for the 30-hour opening celebration.

Detail of Sam Gilliam’s “Carousel Form II.”

All that, plus 1,000 other things. All these pages still don’t quite capture what I appreciate about my internship at the Speed. It’s not just the sum of the projects I did or the lessons I learned, as much as I value those.

It’s a lot more.

The Speed’s marketing team: Laura Ross, Steven Bowling, Andy Perez, and Whitney Adkins. These people are rock stars.

Fact of Life #4:

A great team makes all the difference. I feel spoiled by the encouragement and thanks I constantly received for my work during my internship. I noticed right away that everyone I did a project for would bend over backwards to express their appreciation, even if I felt like what I did wasn’t that big a deal. That wasn’t just a first impression; that’s genuinely the culture among the staff at the Speed, and I try not to take it for granted. Beyond that, I had the chance to be part of a staff working for something we all care about: the art. All of my coworkers are passionate and creative and love what we’re about. I loved being part of the marketing team in particular, since we work really well together and have a great time. The five of us get a lot done, and we’re all good at different things.

Not everybody has that experience in a career, much less in an internship.

And it helps when you all have fun. There are countless conversations and office memories that come from working with fun people… The ugly sweater Christmas party. The pumpkin decorating competition (I was proud of my brand-appropriate pumpkin even if it didn’t win). The donuts and cookies and candy and cake and banana bread that constantly showed up next to the coffee maker. The many, many trips to Please & Thank You ( just yards away from Local Speed). Emailing funny videos and Kanye news around the office suite, AKA The Party Basement. All-staff meetings. Waiting in line for the good microwave. Lunches in the trailer. And then finally our beautiful new break room! Hanging out at Old Louisville Spring Fest and Arts & Culture Day in Waterfront Park. The most hard core envelope-stuffing parties you ever saw, complete with pizza rewards. And of course, the opening gala and 30-hour grand opening celebration when everyone’s hard work paid off.

But honestly, “Baby Friday” was probably the best day of my whole internship. 89

Proudly sporting my Speed ArtÂ Museum t-shirt in Rome.

Fact of Life #5:

Some jobs are not just jobs. The lessons I learned and the experiences I had as an intern were more than I bargained for when I first walked through the office doors of Local Speed in August 2014. I had no idea when I started how much these two years would change me, both professionally and personally. I know that I’m a better designer than I was two years ago (if only because I cringe at some of the work I did back then). But beyond that, I also hope that I’m a better communicator, a faster decision maker, and maybe a little less “quiet.” I hope that I’m more compassionate because of working with people who are different from me and yet so much the same—coworkers who have become friends.

I’m different because of working at the Speed. And I’m grateful it wasn’t just a job.

carrieadonovan.com speedmuseum.org