SEATTLE, WA.- From the stop sign to the emoji, symbols play an important and growing role in daily life. The current exhibition on view at the
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City, “Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols” examines the rarified stories behind many of the symbols that protect, empower and connect people. The exhibition will run May 13, 2023, to September 2, 2024.
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols, this exhibition draws from the archive of the author and industrial designer, Henry Dreyfuss (1904–1972). Dreyfuss promoted the power of symbols to facilitate quick and efficient global communication, but perhaps not even he could have anticipated the extent to which we are now surrounded by symbols in our everyday lives.
Cooper Hewitt brought on Seattle-based Studio Matthews to bring the book content to life as a dynamic in-person experience, featuring audience contributions and engagement. Additionally, the team needed to devise a display system that barely touches the walls, to successfully ‘float’ within Cooper Hewitt’s historic gallery spaces.
Inviting visitors to ‘give me a sign’
Crowd-sourced content was a hallmark of the original Sourcebook. The goal of integrating audience engagement and visitor-contributed content drove Studio Matthews to devise the following gallery exhibits:
—In a gallery describing the rich history of Olympic symbols, visitors can stand in front of a projection of a life-sized Olympic symbol
—a weight-lifter, a volleyball player, a wrestler—and try striking a pose to match.
—In another, visitors gathering around a central illuminated table can learn how symbols are designed and try their hand at solving classic design symbol problems. Their sketches are added to the growing collection in the gallery.
—As they exit, visitors are invited to identify and create a symbol they feel is missing from the world, and submit their idea or design online, to co-create an international Symbol Sourcebook of 2024.
“Finding new ways to engage the audience is a favorite design challenge of ours. Starting with something so familiar to the audience allowed us to play with scale, and create a mix of experiences that are fun and challenging.” says Kristine Matthews, Principal, Studio Matthews.
What is ‘that’ supposed to mean?
The proof of a good symbol is that it’s easily understood by its target audience. Yet some symbols in the Symbol Sourcebook are a little cryptic to today’s audience. Studio Matthews created a playful low-tech display challenging visitors to correctly guess the meaning of a series of old and new symbols. Subsequent swing doors are used to reveal the myriad symbols that surround us in urban centers like New York.
Celebrating a modular system
The rational grid layouts of the Sourcebook provided Studio Matthews inspiration for devel- oping a modular 3-d framework to organize a wide mix of content. The clean freestanding structure helps bring the graphics to life, providing flexibility while providing a complementary contrast to Cooper Hewitt’s ornate gallery walls.
The framework transforms into a series of protest signs in one gallery, showcasing the raised clenched fist and its use in historic movements including Black Lives Matter and many others.
The striking original black, white and red palette of the Sourcebook kicks off the experience, yet transitions through the exhibition to include the nuanced and varied palette that represents today’s digital symbols.
Studio Matthews designs exhibitions, wayfinding systems, workplaces, branding, and place- making projects. We specialize in expressing ideas in environments, and creating meaningful experiences that resonate on a human scale. For us, visual communication is more than type, color and image, it’s an opportunity to connect people, places, and ideas. To inform. To edu- cate. To enrich. To celebrate.
studiomatthews.com @studiomatthews
“Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols”
May 13, 2023, to September 2, 2024
