Interning at The Strong National Museum of Play
In July 2023, I started a Graphic Design internship in the Exhibits department at The Strong Museum in Rochester, NY. The Strong is a museum that features highly interactive exhibits and explores how we play.
I worked on the design for the Black Doll Designers exhibit. This exhibit showcases modern black dolls and the black designers who helped bring that representation to toy aisles. It is the complement exhibit to the New York Historical Society's Black Dolls, also on view at The Strong.
Title Design
I explored different directions for the main title design, thinking about doll types, the tools they are made with, and the accessories they come with. I wanted to include a "human" element by including a large doll in the final design and cloth swatches inspired by African textiles to reference the design process.
Front of Cases & Labels
I created a vibrant main label to contrast the light blue walls. I thought it was important to have pictures of the doll designers mentioned in the exhibit because their appearance is such an important part of their impact and their designs. The subtle pattern from the title patches is continued in these labels and the ones in the cases.
Mirror Standees
I wanted to add an interactive aspect to the exhibit to help engage the audience, especially the children. The exhibit centers on black designers who created black dolls to better reflect themselves and black children. I wanted to bring this concept into a visualized form by having standees with mirrors in them so children can see themselves in the life-sized dolls and their matching little dolls.
A video of The Strong Exhibits Team producing the standees
Paper Doll Activity
I had the idea to add another interactive aspect to the exhibit through a take-home craft. I wanted to represent as much diversity in my doll illustrations as possible, but it is impossible to represent everyone in so few characters. So I created a paper doll that can be colored and matched as closely as possible. There were only a few paper doll sheets that I found in my research that included different black hairstyles and textures so that is something I wanted to focus on in my design.
Activity Area
For the title design of this area, I wanted to show the paper dolls that guests can make. I liked the idea of the marker drawing the line from the shoe to the other side of the sign, but it's better to have two dolls to show that anyone can participate in the activity. This area also features the Black Barbie Documentary poster and my poster Hand Sewn Doll.
Black Fashion Dolls
There is one display case separate from the main exhibit of Black Doll Designers. It is at the front of the museum to draw attention to the rest of the exhibit inside. It features fashion dolls so I wanted to create a title design that references fashion illustration.
Hand Sewn Doll
Before my internship, I illustrated a poster for a class about the New York Historical Society's Black Dolls exhibit. This exhibit came to The Strong at the same time I interned there and the Exhibits department decided to display my poster.
