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Exhibition Unit Evaluation

Trying to write down an evaluation for a unit such as the exhibition is really tricky at first as it involves so many different stages all of which leave an impact.

Past Exhibitions

The first stage was evaluating previous exhibitions, a tricky but crucial aspect of the process to build a strong concept. It was very important to look closely at all past exhibitions, some of which inspired some aspects in our initial idea generation process. Learning about what others did help me get in the right frame of mind and start developing ideas for our own exhibition.

I will not talk about all previous exhibitions during this evaluation but I feel that Leave a Mark’s approach should be talked about as it was a game changer. Finally, the decision was taken to avoid the BIG opening night, something I had been thinking about for a while. Having said so, plenty of people asked about the opening night and I know a few others that did attend as they were confused with the “day's” concept. The approach was really good and I will personally push forward towards that outcome, having said so it needs to be communicated better. With regard to the opening night, it seems that people missed it and it would be a wise decision to bring it back, having said so I believe it should be toned down from previous years focusing on what really matters.

I loved the concept that there were different things happening on different days, this kept the exhibition alive all week and everyone got their chance to shine. If done well this can ensure we get the most out of the best week of the scholastic year, it would be such a shame if we worked so hard and then the exhibition is abandoned. The workshops were really interesting, I attended the printing workshop and the BRND WGN talk, as for the talk I would have loved it if it was an interactive workshop with people participating.

Visits

In our first task, we also had to research three exhibition spaces. Visiting exhibitions can be really interesting but what I found even more exciting was the places I looked at that were not exhibitions but I evaluated them as if they were. The first example was the oncology hospital, so many things that have never even crossed my mind have to be taken into consideration such as the hospital being equipped with an earthquake resistant structure, ventilation, surfaces etc.

The other place that I visited and I left me with so much food for thought was “The Point”. I decided to tackle the point as an exhibition as I feel it is the best example to juxtapose against our end of year exhibition. In total, the point has around 65 shops all under one brand (the point) but individually all doing their own thing, in our end of year exhibition we will have all the courses doing the same thing under one brand.

This is why it is very important to develop a brand that is very strong but can easily adapt. In our end of year exhibition, I would like to see sub-brands being developed organically from other levels, as long as it falls within a few guidelines.

We also Visited Valletta renaissance which was also very interesting, having said so during this exhibition I was constantly talking to one of the curators to understand more about the process rather than just space. At one point the curator mentioned a very interesting point, he pointed out that they are treating this exhibition like a story. I tried as much as possible to keep this in mind when developing the mood boards. I visited a few exhibition spaces and also started looking at public spaces from a different perspective. Apart from the museums and spaces I spoke about I visited a few others such as - Te fit-Tazza Furjana (exhibition & public place), inquisitor’s palace, Maritime Museum, Zabbar Sanctuary Museum, Police Museum, few places in Mdina and also buildings in Valletta such as Chamber of commerce.

Site Evaluation

Together with Michael, I went around the school to check what repairs and improvements needed to be done. This was very useful in when thinking about the planning build up towards the exhibition. Thanks to the points forwarded during this site evaluation I was invited to join the embellishment by Mr Grima and together with this group we are working on these improvements. This week I had a meeting with Mr Ronnie D’emanuale and I took him around the institute to point out the hazards we came across during the evaluation.

D and AD

It’s not secret that the biggest inspiration while developing the ICA Festival came from my trip last year to D and AD. There are so many things I can say about my experience at the festival and what impact it had on me but I don’t want to bore you out, instead, I am going to talk about just what I think are the most important elements.

First of all the brand, not really sure how to describe the strong presence of the brand throughout. As you start walking towards the venue one could already start spotting posters about the event. The brewery is located on a corner and has big glass windows that were all branded D & AD. What I loved about the festival’s brand was how many ways it was interpreted in different ways yet keeping true to the identity. The venue itself was very well branded ensuring every corner of the brewery screamed D and AD.

Secondly, I have to talk about the app, when I purchased the ticket for the festival DandAD sent me a login and link to download the app. This was a game changer, from the app I had access to everything I needed to know prior to the festival. The app also has the functionality of an organiser, you can see who is talking, at what time, what is there background, for how long, subjects that will be covered and if you are interested in the workshop or talk you book a place through the app. Once you have seen all the events the app will create a planner for your day with reminders and directions of how to get to the place.

The aims

From day one I had two particular aims, one was to tell a story with our exhibition (the reason why we went for it all starts here) and secondly to provide an experience to our visitors resulting in improving the school’s perceived value. In an ideal world, I would like to work towards making the ICA a profitable event and using the profits towards improving the MCAST ICA educational experience.

Our three concept boards

The three concepts chosen by myself and Alisa were all very close to heart. Although we discussed many different approaches we felt that “Home, Festa and ICA Festival” were the strongest three and also the most that can be developed. Our main focus was on ICA Festival as it was more of a holistic approach, with the ICA Festival we did not want to just have a visual concept that makes sense but we wanted to create some kind of strategy that looked beyond the end of year exhibition. We also focused a lot on improving the school’s perceived value by showcasing the students work all year round among other initiatives.

ICA Festival

After presenting a full brand we were very happy the ICA Festival got chosen as one of the main concepts. The only problem was that we were asked to change the main icon for our brand, this led to an unbelieveable amount of hours trying to figure out how to keep the brand as is but change one of the main features. At times I was considering changing the whole brand as I found it difficult to find something that fits into the brand without manipulating the brand.

After several days we managed to come to a conclusion of using a circle as it was very representative of two of the most iconic parts of the school, the tower and the greek theatre. Once the brand was confirmed we had a bit of back and forth with regards to the hierarchy of different parts of the brand but once complete we were all very happy with how the overall brand turned out. Another challenge was trying to merge together the ICA Festival identity and the “IT ALL STARTS HERE” identity and keeping them working together in harmony.

Team

I had a good team to work with, at first I was very scared as I have never worked with any of my team members before apart from Alisa, the more time went by the more we started to work together and communicate. The workload could have been distributed better among team members but I felt really attached the brand and was scared to give parts of the brand away. As the deadline got closer I started to notice that I might have taken on more than I could handle but still happy with how everything turned out in the end. With regard to the contribution from my team members, I can say that everyone performed every task that was required according to their skill set. I tried my best to ensure everyone is happy within the group and also learning as we went along, a very good example was Deborah. I knew she was not very comfortable talking to an audience so with Deborah I focused more on improving her public speaking to ensure that when the time comes for the presentation she feels comfortable. Overall I think the team performed well, special thanks to Alisa that was with me through the whole process and ensured all deadlines were reached, the team is functioning and most importantly keeping us motivated.

Monday Sessions

Not going to go into great detail about the session we had Monday if it wasn’t the Monday dry run we would have never performed so well on Wednesday. Following Monday’s session, we knew that we had to change the game plan and restructure some stuff so Tuesday was a marathon to get things sorted!

Presentation

The presentation went according to plan, the flow was much better than Monday and we simplified some stuff. Everyone spoke very comfortably about their area also managing to cut the presentation time by around 10 minutes compared with Monday.

Other teams

I was really happy that everyone gave a very good presentation on Wednesday, irrelevant to what gets chosen I am looking forward to start implementing the concept and make it a year to remember for all of us. We worked close with another team even at one point helping each other out, that really showed maturity and it felt like we are one big family.

Overall

I am really happy with the overall results of what we managed to produce during this semester. There are obviously things that looking back I might have done differently or may have avoided completely. In the near future, I will do my best to not get attached to my work as sometimes it can work against me. After spending hours working on a project receiving feedback is not always as an easy task but when I go home open my laptop and check the feedback given it always makes sense and when the changes are implemented the work becomes so much better(a good example in this unit was the feedback given about hierarchy). Having said so it has been an absolute pleasure working on this project, it would be an honour if we are given the opportunity to implement but irrelevant to what happens I’m in love with what as a group we managed to make.

#bingethink

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Together with Michael, I went around the school to check what repairs and improvements needed to be done. This was very useful in when thinking about the planning build up towards the exhibition. Thanks to the points forwarded during this site evaluation I was invited to join the embellishment by Mr Grima and together with this group we are working on these improvements. This week I had a meeting with Mr Ronnie D’emanuale and I took him around the institute to point out the hazards we came across during the evaluation.

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Trying out an award prototype

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Overall Research

Over all

Although technically we are still in the first stages of this unit I feel that I already learnt so much in terms of what surrounds us. I visited a few exhibition spaces and also started looking at public spaces from a different perspective. Apart from the museums and spaces I spoke about I visited a few others such as - Te fit-Tazza Furjana (exhibition & public place), inquisitor's palace, Maritime Museum, Zabbar Sanctuary Museum, Police Museum, few places in Mdina and also buildings in Valletta such as Chamber of commerce. This are all at least worth a feature photo in the blog.

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Valletta 1566

For this exhibition to be honest I did not really look into great detail towards the setting of the exhibition but I decided to strike a conversation with the guy from Heritage Malta and learn as much as I can about the approach rather than the setting and talk about the little details that particularly stood out during the conversation. This exhibition gathers the history of the past four hundred and fifty years of Valletta, a city that is constantly changing. What is also interesting with this exhibition setup is that it is split between two places half being and St Elmo and the other at the National Library, although the two are not individual exhibition they both amplify different aspects of the history of Valletta.

Personally although we spoke about so many different things one thing from what they said really stood out, this was the fact that they are treating this exhibition like a story. Although we have been telling stories since the beginning of time recently people have been taking them more into account and giving the story element importance throughout the whole process. I have never seen this being done in the local scene.

The space itself was very well throughout and it implemented the grid system that Valletta was built on. All items within exhibition had plenty of breathing space and the place felt like it had a natural flow. Although at first everyone thought that the lighting was not great we were given a very good reason why and the space seemed to be making much more sense. In terms of the brand it is not a route I would have gone down in, with so much history to back up a concept the overall brand could have been taking further. Loved the fact that they included smells too, this is unusual and I only have experienced something like this years ago in London. The place was filled with snippets of information that left me curious to know more, I totally agree with the approach of not putting more than 50 words display per item.

Something really interesting is the fact that they chose to preserve artefacts in the state they are found rather restoring them to original condition. Once this approach was explained it really makes sense, Once something is restored to the original state and pieces from the original artefact have to be removed or covered the piece loses its value. Another interesting point worth a mention was the little timer on the TV, although it is a very small detail it can guide people a lot.

Unfortunately the exhibition is not really visible if you are just passing by, maybe something can be done for the space to be more visible to the main public.

Photos in this post were taken by Alisa Pavia. 

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Anima Iki

Anima Globe

This installation really impressed as soon as I came across it, visually it is really pleasing but there is more to it than just aesthetically being beautiful. This sphere interacts with its surroundings with both visuals and sound, the interaction happens all via code. Once a person approaches the sphere it reacts to their presence. I feel that something like this gives the audience the opportunity to enjoy it throughout the whole exhibition rather than just on one night.

Something like this can also be very interesting as it constantly changes, results will all be different from one individual to another. This gives a bespoke experience to everyone that interacts with this art expression. Usually my point of view is based on functionality but something like this can bring out a fun aspect of what we do, not everything has to be functional we can have fun to.

If this year we opt for some kind of projection I think it is time we go for something that has impact via interactivity, this will make the exhibition more memorable and unique.

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List of Places

St James' Cavalier

National museum of archaeology

National war museum

Valletta 1566 - Melita Renascens

Blitz - G Plan

National museum of fine art

Zabbar Sanctuary Museum

Police armory

The Point

Hagar Qim

Casa Rocca Picolla

Malta International Airport

Valletta ( City as a Space)

Local Band Clubs

Mater Dei

National Aquarium

Police Museum

Mosta Dome

MCAST Campus Paola

Gozo Ferry (As a space)

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Leave a Mark

Leave a mark was definitely a game changer, although like every other exhibition it had it’s pros and cons I feel that overall it was a great success. I will tackle a few aspects from Leave a Mark that I feel were key points, I will not be talking about lighting etc since every course came up with there own concept.

As a concept Leave a Mark was the strongest out of those proposed, personally when it was being presented I did not fully understand how what was being pitched will be translated into an exhibition but in the end it did. The team came a long way from what they originally pitched to how it all came together in the end.

I feel that Leave a Mark was a game changer in terms of approach. Finally we got rid of the irrelevant opening night, something I have been thinking about for a while. Having said so, plenty of people asked me about the usual opening night and I know a few people that did not come as they were confused with the “days” concept. The concept was really good and I will personally push forward towards that outcome, maybe try to communicate it better and still have an opening night but toned down.

I loved the concept that there were different things happening on different days, this kept the exhibition alive all week and everyone got their chance to shine. If done well this can ensure we get the most out of the best week of the scholastic year, it would be such a shame if we worked so hard and then the exhibition is abandoned. The workshops were really interesting, I attended the printing workshop and the BRND WGN talk, as for the talk I would have loved it if it was an interactive workshop with people participating.

With regard to the brand it all boils down to personal opinion, what I can definitely say is that everything was consistent and the brand guidelines tackled all the areas that needed tackling. Personally I would have gone for something slightly cleaner but as this is just one's personal taste and also keeping in mind the concept. The overall brand represented the concept well.

I heard a lot of positive feedback from different people so I would definitely say that leave a mark was a success, obviously there are things we can improve on but in terms of harmony and overall product I think it was on point. 

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The Point

Intro

I decided to tackle the point as an exhibition as I feel it is the best example to juxtapose against our end of year exhibition. In total the point has around 65 shops all under one brand (the point) but individually all doing their own thing, in our end of year exhibition we will have all the courses doing the same thing under one brand. This is why it is very important to develop a brand that is very strong but can easily adapt. In our end of year exhibition I would like to see sub brands being developed organically from other levels, as long as it falls within a few guidelines. Having the same concept being applied to every room will get boring very quickly.

Space

The floor plan allows a lot of breathing space, although as I said there are 65 shops and services in total the common area is very wide therefore the flow of people is very good. Having said so I feel that there is a lot of dead space, I would like to see a bit more life within the common areas.

Also the brand is barely visible on the inside, it looks very sterile. The shops obviously are what give it character but I feel that the largest shopping mall in Malta should have a more present and strong brand throughout.

Lighting

I tried to do a quick count and on level -3 and I was very quickly beyond 100, a rope light and all the lights in the shop. Having all these lights does not replace natural light, in fact the mall looks very dull. It might have been interesting if the roof was made out of glass, this would have allowed a lot more light in, personally natural light gets me in a better mood and if I am in a better mood I will probably do more shopping. After looking this up I found that Researchers at the Interdepartmental Neuroscience program at Northwestern University in Chicago also found out that being exposed to natural light increases workplace performance and quality of life.

Floor

The floor is normal tiles, nothing really specific and again nothing related to the brand. What could have been interesting if they added a hint of the blue in some places or maybe use parts of the floor as part of the way finding system. Although it is not technically the floor the sides of the escalator are plain white, would be nice if they used that as a canvas replacing the large banner dropping down from the ceiling. Having said so most floor shops have their own flooring which is most cases is very ecstatically pleasing and inline with the brand.

Smell

Smell is a very interesting topic, as you walk into the mall there is not just one particular small that you could associate directly with the point, every shop has it’s own particular smell. Three that really stood out were cinnabon, Franks, and Costa Coffee. The smell attracts you to that particular shop and could be very powerful when consistent. A very good example of a very consistent smell would be Bortex (although not in the point), they have a perfume diffuser that is consistent thought out all the outlets, this has become part of the Bortex retail experience.

Function

Functionality here is spot on, The Point has everything one would need gathered under one roof. What I Particularly like is that Point has something for everyone, one could be buying a €300 bag from Harmont and Blaine and someone else at the same time could be buying a €22 bag from River island. Irrelevant of who you are and where you come from this place will definitely have something for you. It is not perfect but compared to anything else we have locally it is by far the best you can get (under one roof). What is also interesting is that compared with somewhere like Baystreet point has the advantage that it is not exposed to the weather, if a family would like to do their shopping on a Wintery Saturday morning nothing is going to stop them.

Accessibility

I feel that the point has done a very good job with making every inch of this place easy to access. First I would like to talk about getting here and then talk a bit about the interior. The point is fairly accessible from the two entrances, a very big carpark complete with lifts. I also like the fact Each floor apart from one has its own entrance. As for the interior the point has to escalators constantly running, stairs and also 2 lifts, this ensures anyone in any situation can easily navigate to different floors without any problems.

Navigability

On every level there is an interactive board that gives shows a list of all the shops and services in the point and groups them under 10 sections such as food, beauty, literature, electronics and so on. The board also displays information such as opening hours, contact information and a little brief about the shop. Thanks to this board one can definitely find out what they need in an easy manner. Apart from the boards there is also a list of shops and services in front of the elevator this guides the consumer to the right floor.

Interactivity

There is no real interactivity in the shopping mall, I am here Saturday morning on the busiest day of the week but nothing is really happening, it’s just people shopping. I would have loved it if something was going on, the lack of the mall taking action I see that there is a huge opportunity for shop owners to create their own thing to attract consumers towards their own shop.

Shops

Whilst doing going around the mall I decided to visit a few shops to get a better understanding. Pull and bear is a very good example to use, the brand is store is promoted as a lifestyle. The store’s identity is visible throughout, colour palette, typography, photo style, models, labels all with the same breathing space and even the music they played in the 20 minutes I was in the shop all revolved around this lifestyle. The shop window is themed according to the season and always professionally done (I asked and apparently they are sent a pack each season with all the props and guidance for the window to ensure every P&B looks the same).

On another level I found a shop called Segue, this had a shop window full with as many products as one could possibly fit, for me this personally decreases the brand value. In most cases less is more and shop windows should be the same. Keep a window clean, themed and interesting. ( I am not going to complain about the 20% discount sign on the door... that typography tho)

Other Points

The escalators are placed going against each other, this may seem like an inconvenience for some as you have to go around the whole floor to get from one place to another. This probably was designed specifically this way so consumers have to go around the floor and pass by all the shops before going to another level. Each shop has a very interesting window, which may convert that pass by into a sale.

The place is very well kept, bathrooms are clean, common areas are also clean and clear and overall it looks very modern. Very refreshing if one had to compare it with with somewhere like Baystreet were the bathrooms are usually very dirty and the overall state of the place looks passed it’s time. Bay Street was very good when it opened but now it seems like it’s stuck in 2003.

What could help The Point gain more customers is changing the opening hours. Currently it opens from 9.30 - 7.30, this means that everyone that works in retail can’t come shopping here. Imagine all the people that work in Sliema (mostly with the same hours) having somewhere new to shop after work. Baystreet opens from 10am to 10pm and this is their unique selling proposition.

Children area helps parents shop without having to worry with who they are going to leave the kids or else kids causing a scene in the shops. This too can be seen as part of the retails experience.

There was no music in the mall, this can really create a better environment. When adding music to a place I feel that the atmosphere becomes much more enjoyable and pleasant.

I attended again on a special event when it was students lockdown and the place had a totally different environment. There was loads of interactive games on each floor, few shops had their own entertainment and the place was open till 10:00pm. It was really interesting to observe how different the place looked with so much life and an insane number of foot traffic compared to my visit the previous week. I experienced something weird during this event, some shops decided that it is not worth opening after 7 (for example the kitchen shop) so a few shops were closed. Since I could already see a few of the shops closed with 2.30 hours to go I still felt really pressured that I am shopping against time as the shops already started closing. This is probably something personal as I hate nothing more than going into a shop 10 seconds before they close.

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D&AD

Intro

D and AD was without an experience I will never forget, although the brief said that the exhibitions or museums have to be local I feel it would be a pity not to talk about the D and AD 2016 Festival. The festival was not only a huge source for inspiration but also a big scale networking event with people from all over the world. Since the event was split over 3 days one could plan ahead, thanks to the app 2 weeks in advance all the talks and other events were organised.

Space

I fell in love with the place as soon as I stepped in, the festival was held in an old brewery. The Brewery is found in what I would like to call London’s creative capital. Over the years the creative scene in east London has been growing rapidly, being in the centre of the scene really put things together. As for the building itself the rooms were very large so the traffic flow was very good, it can honestly say there was not a moment when I felt a room was overcrowded. We also had workshop, talks and interactive displays which were being held in another part of the brewery, these areas were kept solely for the purpose they intended, by doing so the other events running in parallel to the exhibition were not interrupted at any point.

Lighting

The lighting was spot on in the main areas and slightly darker in the basement but overall I was very happy. When possible the space made use of natural light together with artificial. Although the basement had no windows there was still good lighting with spots on each board insuring the best possible result, having said so at times when the piece was made from shiny material it reflected.

Brand

Not really sure how describe the strong presence of the brand throughout. As you start walking towards the venue one could already start spotting posters about the event. The brewery has a huge class corner and this was all branded D & AD, by using perforated stickers they did not block the light. What I loved about the festival that the brand was interpreted in a crazy amount of ways but it was still relevant everywhere you look, nothing looked off brand. Shutterstock had an interactive stand where people can build there own D&AD logo using shutterstock photography. The strongest elements of the brand personally I feel are the colour and the pencil shape. One could learn a lot from the consistency these brand over the years.

Smell

To be honest there was only one room I can clearly remember what it smelt like, the “hall”. The large room was filled with beautiful editorial pieces and illustrations, mostly print based. As soon as I walked into that room it smelt like a new book.

Function

The brewery really served it’s purpose really well due to the very larges spaces availible and also the geographic position. All sectors were represented by the people that work in the field and also there work, having said so I would have loved to met more people that had there work displayed. I had so many questions about certain projects, although the areas were clearly labeled for example (outdoor advertising) there were no details about who done the project or the context, this made it very hard to find other work from artist you like. D & AD was also a very interactive experience, all the workshops I attended all involved the people that were taking part, this really helped us to get to know each other and also talk directly to leading people within the industry.

Accessibility

One could easily get to the place without any problems, what I loved about the 3 day event is that all areas had there own entrance. If I was not mistaken there were in total 4 different entrances, main exhibition, new blood, judges and finalists and workshops. By doing so I feel foot traffic was carefully distributed avoiding long waits to get into different Areas

Floor

The floor was mainly covered with textile carpet, this made the space look less cold especially in the main areas in other places floor was bare concrete and in other places it was painted. All this together really tied in with the overall industrial feel of the brewery. What I found interesting is that some areas of the floor were integrated as part of the wayfinding system. This was not as effective as the other conventional way finding but it gave the place more character.

Navigability / The app

All my trip was managed through the app, way finding was present in every corner that you looks but the app made things a lot easier. Once you choose your events the app will guide you to where you need to go, even when the event was outside the brewery the app sends a reminder and gives directions.

Other Points

As one could expect something like that needs an endless amount of sponsors. Instead of going for a conventional way of promoting the company all the sponsors that were present had an activity going on, the two that stood out the most were: Adobe had a designer turning people’s sketches into cool t-shirts. Shutterstock had about 6 screens and people could recreate the D and AD logo by using stock, results were amazing.

I have to talk about the App, when I purchased the ticket for the festival d&ad sent me a login and link to download the app. This was a game changer, from the app I had access to everything I needed to know prior to the festival. The app also has a functionality of an organiser, you can see who is taking, what time, what is there background, how long, subjects that will be covered and if you are interested you book a place through the app.   Once you have seen all the events the app will create a planner for your day with reminders and directions of how to get to the place.

The brewery is large but d&ad still decided to use other parts of South London for workshops sessions. Apart from the workshops being held at the Truman others were help for example on Google Campus and also studios in the area. This was very helpful as it gives you the opportunity experience the studio environment.