Toy Exhibition - YOS Studio graficzne Poznań

Toy Exhibition

Client: The Museum of the Origins of the Polish State in Gniezno

Our work: visual identity, installations, a poster, an invitation, leaflets, a guide

Time frame: 2015

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

The exhibition on the culture and history of toys included over 400 exhibits from different periods. The oldest ones of them were from the eleventh century. The exhibition presented a diverse, interesting exposition for both young and old viewers.

RESEARCH

The subject of toys required research based on rich iconographic sources, including even medieval board games. The project was very complex. The complexity of it was a result of the number of presented exhibits and a really wide time frame they were from. As a result of the conversion of historical sources into a more modern visual form, it was possible to create an exhibition attractive to the contemporary viewer.

CONCEPTUAL WORKS

The motto of the exhibition, which also guided the conceptual work carried out by YOS Studio, was Katarzyna Kabacińska's words: "Play can exist without a toy, but a toy without fun is just an ordinary subject." The toys were divided into 8 thematic groups: home ZOO, in a perfect house, travels, world of dolls, heroes, colorful fairs, orbs and balls, and board games frenzy. This division resulted from the functions the toys have during children's play. The central part of the exhibition included the oldest exhibits discovered in archaeological sites.

PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES

The task of YOS Studio was also to promote the event. In order to do so, we designed special banners and animations for online marketing purposes. We made posters for accompanying events as well. Additionally, we designed promotional gadgets including bags, stickers, and leaflets. All mentioned elements maintained consistent style closely referring to the theme of pure childish fun.

INSTALLATION

YOS Studio supervised also the production of the exhibition. The arrangement of the exposition was planned to encourage its visitors to independently look for relationships between modern toys and those from 1000 years ago. Specially for this exhibition, we assembled installations such as a dollhouse and equipped all of them with stickers, both on the exhibition walls and on the floor. All the mentioned activities allowed us to make the whole installation easier to read for the visitors.