Silver Cultural Heritage and Culture Industry Design · 2024
The Ancient Mexicans Exhibition Identity
- A' Design Award 2024 Silver Winner in Cultural Heritage and Culture Industry Design
- Awarded April 15, 2024
- CLIENT: Universidad de Monterrey
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 52,620
- Verification code 21319788B4 · Verify this award
About The Ancient Mexicans Exhibition Identity
The Ancient Mexicans is a graphic identity for a permanent exhibition of Mexican pre-Hispanic cultures at the Museum of the Northeast in Monterrey, Mexico. The identity is based on the concept of constellations. A grid of points was placed over images of selected exhibition pieces, and squares and their variations were used to create pictograms for each culture and theme. The pictograms are reflected and repeated to form patterns that work as modules and adapt to each application. Information design within the exhibition supports the visitor experience.
The Ancient Mexicans Exhibition Identity by Udem Universidad de Monterrey presents a compelling exercise in cultural translation, transforming the rich sculptural heritage of pre-Columbian civilizations into a visual language immediately comprehensible to contemporary audiences while preserving the essential dignity and formal complexity of its source material, the design system employs pixel-based iconography that references both the geometric abstraction inherent in ancient sculptural traditions and the digital visual culture familiar to modern viewers, creating an elegant bridge across millennia of artistic production, the chromatic strategy demonstrates sophisticated understanding of color psychology and hierarchical communication with the dominant cadmium orange functioning as an energetic herald drawing attention and suggesting warmth, vitality, and cultural richness, while supporting hues of ultramarine blue and magenta violet provide chromatic counterpoint and visual variety across the poster series, the pixel construction methodology reveals careful study of original artifacts, distilling complex three-dimensional forms into their essential gestural and postural characteristics without sacrificing recognizability or cultural specificity, warriors retain their commanding presence, ceremonial figures maintain their ritual dignity, and vessels preserve their functional clarity even when reduced to orthogonal building blocks, the typographic treatment complements the iconographic system through geometric letterforms that share the rectilinear vocabulary of the pixel figures, creating systematic visual unity across all identity applications, one might observe how this approach democratizes cultural heritage, making ancient artistic achievements accessible without condescension while inviting viewers to consider how visual translation across media and time periods might illuminate rather than diminish our understanding of historical cultures.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Design of a new graphic identity that is flexible and functional, as well as a communication strategy that attracts the public to the exhibition of Ancient Mexicans, (exhibition of Mexican pre-Hispanic cultures at the Museum of the Northeast in Mexico, MUNE); offer information design within of the exhibition to enhance the experience of the user and finally, promote knowledge of pre-Hispanic cultures in the Northeast of the country through graphic design.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The exhibition The Ancient Mexicans has 466 pieces, these are divided within the exhibition in cultures and themes. During the development From the graphic identity, two were selected
pieces from each culture and theme. to make choose each piece, were considered the most representative and with better photographs of the technical sheets provided by the Alfa Planetarium.
The first thing that was done during the abstraction process
of the graphic elements was to select the image of the piece, consistent with this step, the reticle was placed over the image and the opacity of the image in order to be able to observe
with greater clarity. Finally, the main element, which is the square and its variations on the image and the grid, generating
as a result different pictograms, or elements graphics for graphic identity. - Tags
- Cultural, Heritage, Pre-hispanic, museum, archaeology, identity, signage, Aztecs, Mayans
- Production Technology
- For the graphic identity, a grid created from the concept of Constellations, considering that the stars when they come together generate new ones figures, different shapes were placed and organized points. By joining four points with lines, we generate a square.
- Design Challenge
- For the creation of the graphic identity, it was taken into account
account our client, the investigation, the public objective and the concept of Constellations. Starting From this background, several characteristics that we consider essential for what was sought to be represented through the graphic identity. We translate these characteristics to goals, which are: having an identity flexible, attractive, recognizable and current graphics. - Project Duration
- The design for the exhibition will be permanently at the Museo del Noreste (MUNE), in Monterrey Nuevo León, Mexico.
- Operation Flow
- From the development of graphic elements designed based on the search for representation of each culture and theme, we decided to make emphasis on one of the goals established for the new graphic identity of “Los Antiguos Mexicanos”,
flexibility.
With the aim of designing a graphic identity flexible, a series of patterns were generated from the graphic elements. These are formed through reflection and repetition of one of the graphic elements. Each pattern works as module and system; usage varies depending on the application. - Research
- Interviews were carried out with people specialized in the field
of museums. The Double Diamond Model was implemented, methodology that allows improving creative processes and idea prototyping. Various world-class museums were visited and the creative proposal was developed. From the research process, we developed the concept for the development of graphic identity. It arose from the search to connect the present with the past.
Taking this into account, a reflection was carried out about connections such as the union between two or more things that sometimes reveal to us and communicate new messages. - Inspiration
- Our country has a deep and extensive history, in Mexico from 2,500 BC. In 1521, a series of cultures developed, among which the Olmecs, Teotihuacans, Mayans, Zapotecs, Toltecs, Mixtecs and Mexicas or Aztecs.
Codices consist of pictorial documents or images that serve as a historical source in which the pre-Hispanic peoples left recorded its cultural and scientific advances, beliefs, rituals, system economic, chronology and in essence… its history.
Colors of The Ancient Mexicans Exhibition Identity
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