Piecing together the minutiae of how our ancient ancestors lived day to day has proved challenging for archaeologists because so few artefacts that defined their lives have survived.
This is in stark contrast to today, when our throwaway society is being preserved thanks to the growing number of museums chronicling the design of our everyday lives through branding, packaging and advertising.
This has led to the expansion of the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising, which reopened in September at the London Lighthouse Building in Notting Hill and is four times bigger than its previous home.
And the Design Museum is moving to a new space in Kensington in 2016, giving it three times more space.
While nostalgia plays a big part in the appeal of much of the branding, packaging and advertising content, Catherine Flood, the curator of prints at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London, believes visitors often find design-led ephemera more accessible than less design-oriented collections.
“When we hold events related to our poster exhibitions, people are far more likely to be interested than if we were discussing watercolours,” she says.
“We have a blog that discusses posters used in recent protests, which establishes a connection between the museum’s collection and what is happening in the world today.”
Documenting social history
That link between a museum’s collection and the world around us is not just confined to major events or social movements, says Zoe Hendon, the head of collections of the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture (Moda), which is part of the University of Middlesex and is open to the public by appointment only to its study room.
Moda, which grew out of a private collection that was gifted to the Hornsey College of Art before it became part of the university, features an extensive collection of what many would see as everyday, small-scale design, including magazines, leaflets, knitting pat- terns and builders’ catalogues.
“It shows that what we have got now is not how it has always been,” says Hendon. “This ephemera shows the development of consumer goods, the changing role of women, the emergence of technology and how the idea of the home has changed.”
It echoes the role that the Museum of Brands feels it plays in helping to document social history. “We can learn about society’s aspirations, tastes and technology,” says Theresa Macaulay, the manager of the Museum of Brands.
“We can learn about the mood of the time and the strategies employed by brands to engage with consumers.”
Collections such as these are at the less elite end of the things, says Hendon, but they can give an insight into people’s lives.
“The focus is ordinary, everyday design but it tells us as much about life, creativity and ingenuity as the steam engine does,” she says.
“It tells us what it is to be human.”
The mission of the Design Museum, which is relocating to the former Common- wealth Institute building, is to help everyone understand the value of design.
“It is our responsibility to document everyday objects and the things we surround ourselves with,” says Nina Due, the head of exhibitions at the Design Museum. “They tell us more than some museum artefacts that are considered to be of significance.”
But she dismisses the idea that these objects should be seen as or displayed as art. “We are affiliated with art and commerce, but design has a difference premise. Design is for use. Even the most conceptual of designers loathe to be described as artists.”
Macaulay adds that much of the Museum of Brands’ collection, if not all of it, was not created with the intention that it should last forever. “The artefacts in the collection should be treated as the examples of com- mercial art and design that they are.”
The expanded Design Museum will offer free visits to its permanent collection, which aims to offer an introduction to design and its impact from different perspectives. Its programme will also feature headline shows to appeal to the public.
The museum will continue with its specialist programme to ensure it remains a place for designers and thought leaders, but is expected to double visitor numbers in the first year to around 650,000.
Contemporary stories
The Museum of Brands has expanded its permanent collection to include more con- temporary material so it now offers a full chronology of consumer history. It has added new content to its popular Time Tunnel and other exhibition spaces. There is also more space for learning, a cafe and a garden.
Overall, the move has addressed the lack of space, which had been a key problem for the museum. “The new location should alle- viate this somewhat and the collection is so vast that the opportunities for exhibitions are limitless,” Macaulay says.
The scope for acquiring new objects is perhaps a key issue for all museums that col- lect contemporary items related to branding, advertising and design.
“The challenge is the volume of things we could collect,” says Flood at the V&A. “This means it can become project-led, although we try to collect key examples from our own eye or from looking at influential awards.”
As part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, which ran alongside the London Olympics, the V&A looked at the barriers to collecting and the ways in which museums acquire objects. This led to its Collect London 2012 project, which saw 700 images sent in by the public through photo-sharing site Flickr.
“We received pictures of signage, shop window displays and flower arrangements,” Flood says. “This is stuff we wouldn’t normally collect for the permanent collection.”
How to collect and archive digital images and design has also become a discussion point as technology plays an increasingly important part in contemporary life. The V&A formed a Contemporary Architecture, Design and Digital section in 2013 and cre- ated the Rapid Response Collecting concept the following year.
The aim is to acquire and display objects in response to major developments in the world of design, technology and manufacturing. So far, the museum has collected its first mobile phone game – the phenomenally successful Flappy Bird – as well as a 3D-printed handgun and some trousers from Primark.
“Objects are collected soon after appearing in the real world if they trigger discus- sion and debate,” Flood says.
She adds that the V&A’s modern collections appear to connect well with younger
audiences and the museum is also popular among design students.
The Museum of Brands says students and schoolchildren accounted for 33% of its visi- tors. It hopes to grow that number by intro- ducing daily learning sessions.
Professionals from the creative industries are also attracted to these contemporary collections, with many using the Museum of Brands as a resource for inspiration and professional development.
And the Design Museum is engaging with different audi- ences, including those outside the UK, using social media channels such as Twitter and Instagram.
Events have included a Twitter Takeover by industrial designer Kenneth Grange, an Instagram takeover by interior design exhibition Designjunction and a weekly Twitter discussion called Font Sunday for font enthusiasts.
While not everyone sees the value in col- lecting evidence of our consumer society and its many seemingly mundane artefacts, curators of branding, advertising and design believe that this type of object can say a lot about society.
“We take so much design for granted,” says Due. “There are often great stories behind designs and it is up to us to interpret them.”
Behind the scenes of Mad Man
Given the army of fans devoted to Matthew Weiner’s adland-based television series, Mad Men, it is little wonder that the Museum of the Moving Image’s exhibition examining the creative process behind the show broke attendance records.
Featuring key props and sets from the show, the exhibition attracted 125,000 visitors over its six-month run, which ended in September. Many were no doubt heartbroken fans seeking a final Mad Men fix after the series finale aired in May.
Curator Barbara Miller and her team were given full access to all the material involved in the show by TV network AMC, and were able to spend time with Weiner and various department heads to talk about how the show came to screen.
“So much about Mad Men hinged on Weiner’s creative process and his fanatical attention to detail,” Miller says.
“That was the exciting part for me as it grounded the show more.
“There was so much eye candy, but once we had a story to tell it imposed a bit of discipline,” Miller adds.
“We just wanted objects that told really good stories about character realisation.”
Key exhibits included the set of Don Draper’s office and the kitchen from Don and Betty’s home, as well as iconic costumes and props, such as the shoebox containing Don’s real identity.
Moving and rebuilding the sets provided the biggest technical and logistical challenge, as both were previously part of much larger sets on a sound stage. And Don’s kitchen had been in storage, the floor was missing and some wallpaper had peeled.
“We wanted to retain the magic without covering up the things that were not authentic and that required explanatory text,” Miller says.
Elsewhere, Miller was keen to retain the mystique of the objects while still allowing visitors to look closely at them.
“A lot of the material is not precious works of art, they are artefacts of production, things from everyday life. We needed to keep things safe but without creating lots of distance.”
Finally, the exhibition also featured Weiner’s research and journals, and even a reconstruction of the writer’s room from the Los Angeles production office.
“His journal from the early 1990s shows when he was thinking about the cinematic possibilities of TV and sketching out a story about a man who changed identity, and tapping into the idea of American identity,” says Miller.
“We thought it might help fans see the show in a different light.”
This is in stark contrast to today, when our throwaway society is being preserved thanks to the growing number of museums chronicling the design of our everyday lives through branding, packaging and advertising.
This has led to the expansion of the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising, which reopened in September at the London Lighthouse Building in Notting Hill and is four times bigger than its previous home.
And the Design Museum is moving to a new space in Kensington in 2016, giving it three times more space.
While nostalgia plays a big part in the appeal of much of the branding, packaging and advertising content, Catherine Flood, the curator of prints at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London, believes visitors often find design-led ephemera more accessible than less design-oriented collections.
“When we hold events related to our poster exhibitions, people are far more likely to be interested than if we were discussing watercolours,” she says.
“We have a blog that discusses posters used in recent protests, which establishes a connection between the museum’s collection and what is happening in the world today.”
Documenting social history
That link between a museum’s collection and the world around us is not just confined to major events or social movements, says Zoe Hendon, the head of collections of the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture (Moda), which is part of the University of Middlesex and is open to the public by appointment only to its study room.
Moda, which grew out of a private collection that was gifted to the Hornsey College of Art before it became part of the university, features an extensive collection of what many would see as everyday, small-scale design, including magazines, leaflets, knitting pat- terns and builders’ catalogues.
“It shows that what we have got now is not how it has always been,” says Hendon. “This ephemera shows the development of consumer goods, the changing role of women, the emergence of technology and how the idea of the home has changed.”
It echoes the role that the Museum of Brands feels it plays in helping to document social history. “We can learn about society’s aspirations, tastes and technology,” says Theresa Macaulay, the manager of the Museum of Brands.
“We can learn about the mood of the time and the strategies employed by brands to engage with consumers.”
Collections such as these are at the less elite end of the things, says Hendon, but they can give an insight into people’s lives.
“The focus is ordinary, everyday design but it tells us as much about life, creativity and ingenuity as the steam engine does,” she says.
“It tells us what it is to be human.”
The mission of the Design Museum, which is relocating to the former Common- wealth Institute building, is to help everyone understand the value of design.
“It is our responsibility to document everyday objects and the things we surround ourselves with,” says Nina Due, the head of exhibitions at the Design Museum. “They tell us more than some museum artefacts that are considered to be of significance.”
But she dismisses the idea that these objects should be seen as or displayed as art. “We are affiliated with art and commerce, but design has a difference premise. Design is for use. Even the most conceptual of designers loathe to be described as artists.”
Macaulay adds that much of the Museum of Brands’ collection, if not all of it, was not created with the intention that it should last forever. “The artefacts in the collection should be treated as the examples of com- mercial art and design that they are.”
The expanded Design Museum will offer free visits to its permanent collection, which aims to offer an introduction to design and its impact from different perspectives. Its programme will also feature headline shows to appeal to the public.
The museum will continue with its specialist programme to ensure it remains a place for designers and thought leaders, but is expected to double visitor numbers in the first year to around 650,000.
Contemporary stories
The Museum of Brands has expanded its permanent collection to include more con- temporary material so it now offers a full chronology of consumer history. It has added new content to its popular Time Tunnel and other exhibition spaces. There is also more space for learning, a cafe and a garden.
Overall, the move has addressed the lack of space, which had been a key problem for the museum. “The new location should alle- viate this somewhat and the collection is so vast that the opportunities for exhibitions are limitless,” Macaulay says.
The scope for acquiring new objects is perhaps a key issue for all museums that col- lect contemporary items related to branding, advertising and design.
“The challenge is the volume of things we could collect,” says Flood at the V&A. “This means it can become project-led, although we try to collect key examples from our own eye or from looking at influential awards.”
As part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, which ran alongside the London Olympics, the V&A looked at the barriers to collecting and the ways in which museums acquire objects. This led to its Collect London 2012 project, which saw 700 images sent in by the public through photo-sharing site Flickr.
“We received pictures of signage, shop window displays and flower arrangements,” Flood says. “This is stuff we wouldn’t normally collect for the permanent collection.”
How to collect and archive digital images and design has also become a discussion point as technology plays an increasingly important part in contemporary life. The V&A formed a Contemporary Architecture, Design and Digital section in 2013 and cre- ated the Rapid Response Collecting concept the following year.
The aim is to acquire and display objects in response to major developments in the world of design, technology and manufacturing. So far, the museum has collected its first mobile phone game – the phenomenally successful Flappy Bird – as well as a 3D-printed handgun and some trousers from Primark.
“Objects are collected soon after appearing in the real world if they trigger discus- sion and debate,” Flood says.
She adds that the V&A’s modern collections appear to connect well with younger
audiences and the museum is also popular among design students.
The Museum of Brands says students and schoolchildren accounted for 33% of its visi- tors. It hopes to grow that number by intro- ducing daily learning sessions.
Professionals from the creative industries are also attracted to these contemporary collections, with many using the Museum of Brands as a resource for inspiration and professional development.
And the Design Museum is engaging with different audi- ences, including those outside the UK, using social media channels such as Twitter and Instagram.
Events have included a Twitter Takeover by industrial designer Kenneth Grange, an Instagram takeover by interior design exhibition Designjunction and a weekly Twitter discussion called Font Sunday for font enthusiasts.
While not everyone sees the value in col- lecting evidence of our consumer society and its many seemingly mundane artefacts, curators of branding, advertising and design believe that this type of object can say a lot about society.
“We take so much design for granted,” says Due. “There are often great stories behind designs and it is up to us to interpret them.”
Behind the scenes of Mad Man
Given the army of fans devoted to Matthew Weiner’s adland-based television series, Mad Men, it is little wonder that the Museum of the Moving Image’s exhibition examining the creative process behind the show broke attendance records.
Featuring key props and sets from the show, the exhibition attracted 125,000 visitors over its six-month run, which ended in September. Many were no doubt heartbroken fans seeking a final Mad Men fix after the series finale aired in May.
Curator Barbara Miller and her team were given full access to all the material involved in the show by TV network AMC, and were able to spend time with Weiner and various department heads to talk about how the show came to screen.
“So much about Mad Men hinged on Weiner’s creative process and his fanatical attention to detail,” Miller says.
“That was the exciting part for me as it grounded the show more.
“There was so much eye candy, but once we had a story to tell it imposed a bit of discipline,” Miller adds.
“We just wanted objects that told really good stories about character realisation.”
Key exhibits included the set of Don Draper’s office and the kitchen from Don and Betty’s home, as well as iconic costumes and props, such as the shoebox containing Don’s real identity.
Moving and rebuilding the sets provided the biggest technical and logistical challenge, as both were previously part of much larger sets on a sound stage. And Don’s kitchen had been in storage, the floor was missing and some wallpaper had peeled.
“We wanted to retain the magic without covering up the things that were not authentic and that required explanatory text,” Miller says.
Elsewhere, Miller was keen to retain the mystique of the objects while still allowing visitors to look closely at them.
“A lot of the material is not precious works of art, they are artefacts of production, things from everyday life. We needed to keep things safe but without creating lots of distance.”
Finally, the exhibition also featured Weiner’s research and journals, and even a reconstruction of the writer’s room from the Los Angeles production office.
“His journal from the early 1990s shows when he was thinking about the cinematic possibilities of TV and sketching out a story about a man who changed identity, and tapping into the idea of American identity,” says Miller.
“We thought it might help fans see the show in a different light.”