COSI staff was responsible for project management, creative direction, exhibit engineering and content research and writing, while Retail Design Group added a new dimension to interior design and environmental graphics for the new exhibit. When COSI commissioned Retail Design Group to design its new Life Learning exhibit, brand building was among its top priorities. Graphics were a key tool in branding the space, says Luanne Carleton, Retail Design Group vp. Life is the big brand, with Body, Mind and Spirit as sub-brands, all geared toward an adults. Each of the exhibit's three main areas is distinguished by its own color palette and distinct displays, but the three are unified by integrated graphic schemes.
Exhibits are unusual and thought-provoking, but few are truly interactive.
Dana Beverly, the design firm's senior graphic designer, worked with COSI's senior writer to create explanatory signs, but much of what he did creates a mood without using words. It's a more serene aesthetic. Some things are there just to be attractive. Beverly created the mural art on computer, then shipped the files to a mural artist who enlarged them and painted them by hand on canvas. You can tell they're not digital.