Lizzie and I both believed that imagery should be prioritised in the layout of the printed material that we were developing: the image on this poster – a detail of a colourful and highly textured tapestry by Bernat Klein, Scandia – created in 1971, appears in a wide band that is bled at the left- and right-hand edges; it is the dominant element in the layout. Below the image is a deep white band that contains all of the typographic information including the exhibition title and logos; above the image is a narrower band that holds the Dovecot Gallery logo. I made a decision to keep information such as the exhibition title, dates, opening times, captions and logos on a white background to avoid the problems of legibility and readability that can occur when these elements are laid over an image – the use of white space became a distinct feature of the identity as it developed.
The elements of the Dovecot Gallery logo (text and thumbnail sketch of a dovecot) are ranged left so it seemed rational and correct to align it to the left of the poster; reading left to right, the white space to the right of the logo is animated by the ragged right edge of the logo – if the logo is placed on the right-hand side of the poster, it doesn’t have the same dynamics because the ranged left elements of the logo create a strong vertical element and the space on the left of the logo becomes a dead space rather than an animated space. Even though the logo isn't the largest element in the layout, it is given a very strong presence by being surrounded by a generous amount of white space and by the fact that the logo is the only place where Dovecot pink appears, creating a pop of colour that attracts the eye.
The typographic information that appears in the wider white band at the bottom of the poster was adapted for each exhibition. Typography was always ranged left with a ragged right and was usually printed in rich black only. Certain elements, such as the Dovecot address, contact details, and opening times were always treated in the same way to create consistency and to reinforce the identity, but the title of the exhibition and dates were treated differently for each exhibition, using a mix of upper and lowercase, different weights, sizes and arrangements of the typeface to create visual variety and interest within the more static layout. Seen as a set of posters, this combination of consistency and variation created a visually connected and playful series that became instantly recognisable as being a Dovecot exhibition.
As part of the brief for this project, Dovecot showed me items from the Bernat Klein archive including examples of the company’s space age packaging with their innovative use of plastics and cutting-edge graphic design. Bernat Klein, as a forward thinking designer, used sans serif typefaces such as Akzidenz Grotesk, Univers and Helvetica as a signifier of modernity; the obvious solution would have been to use one of these typefaces for the poster but, in keeping with the nascent identity I was developing for Dovecot, I used Callibri in a way that captured an idea of modernity, with Klein’s name in a combination of upper and lowercase as it appeared on his company logo. The title of the exhibition is set in uppercase italic which has a futuristic, forward-moving urgency to it – a subtle reference to Malcolm Garrett’s classic 1981 logo for Duran Duran’s first album which, in turn, was referencing the futurism of the 1968 science fiction film Barbarella in which the character Durand Durand appears. There was a further nod to the space age on the private view invitation where the exhibition title was printed in a spot colour of metallic silver – on the poster the title is printed as a silvery grey tint of (rich) black.
In all the subsequent posters that I designed for Dovecot, the layout remained the same as this one. The Dovecot logo remained in the same position and other elements were never added to the white band at the top of the poster. This placing of the logo was applied to other items that I designed for Dovecot and this consistency of placing, along with the liberal use of white space and prioritising of imagery combined with considered and rational typography – all established in this poster – created a distinct and identifiable brand for Dovecot, firmly positioning the gallery on the contemporary art and design radar.
Below is a square advertisement designed for the RSA magazine that shows how the basic design could be adapted for different uses. At the bottom is the private view card with metallic silver spot colour printed on a heavyweight uncoated bright white card.
