PROJECTS
EXHIBITION DESIGN | EXHIBITION GRAPHICS
National Law Enforcement Museum
Washington, DC
Five Communities
October 2018 – March 2020
Christine Lefebvre Design provided comprehensive exhibition design services for Five Communities at the National Law Enforcement Museum. The new museum’s first changing exhibition “highlights grassroots efforts to strengthen relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve. The exhibit provides a look at specific programs developed in Cleveland; Dallas; Chicago; Somerville, MA; and Charleston, SC.”
CLD developed the exhibition’s visual identity, designed all graphic elements, developed detailed graphic elevations and floor plans, wrote production/fabrication specifications, and delivered final production artwork for the 2,000-square-foot exhibition. The museum requested that exhibition elements not protrude into the gallery space, as the gallery doubled as a special events room. To meet this challenge for a lively “flat show,” we used bold colors and devised a grid system with subtle depth variations of graphics. And a key piece to this exhibition’s success was the striking commissioned photography by Boston-based Dan Watkins.
GRAPHICS The font family “Mars” was used for the Five Communities title, as well as headlines and quotations. Mars’s letterforms inspired the angled detail on the bands of colors used for emphasis throughout the exhibition. Each community was assigned a color, vivid yet not fully saturated: orange, green, purple, blue, pink.
GRID ORGANIZATION The exhibition design utilized a grid to organize content. Each city’s section included a panel that described the community and a problem it was facing; another panel that described a program implemented; panels for personal profiles; panels for stats and facts; and photo panels.
The panels varied in depth to create visual and textual interest while keeping the overall exhibition very close to the wall. The sides of the panels were painted in each community’s distinct color.
A tone-on-tone yellow palette was used on the title wall and for interactive elements. On the title wall, the arrangement of five panels represented the five communities and served to introduce the grid.
PHOTOGRAPHY At CLD’s recommendation, the museum commissioned photographer Dan Watkins. Dan traveled with the exhibit developer to the five communities and photographed events hosted by and representative of the featured programs. He captured spontaneous interactions and staged portraits, and his photographs lent the exhibition richness and immediacy.
INTERACTION The exhibition included opportunities for visitors to reflect on community/law enforcement relations through specific prompts on “exercise panels.”
Additional Credits: Fabrication and installation was by Blair, Inc., based in Springfield, Virginia.