Galloping Through Dynasties

Objective

To research, create, and produce graphics for an exhibition on the history of Chinese horse painting with the CAM Design team. All images used belong to the CAM.

Sketches

Client

The Cincinnati Art Museum East Asian curator and design team.

Deliverables

A plaza banner to hang at the museum entrance and a front-drive sign.

Logo Iterations

Research 

The show was broken into four sections; Celestial Horses, Horse and Groom, Transformation of the Horse Image, and the Symbolic Language of Horse Painting. The overarching themes we chose to focus on were the longevity of Chinese horse painting over time, the galloping movement of the horse, And the weightlessness of a horse in motion.

Sketches

Sketches drew inspiration from the dynamic movement of the horse. I played with contrast to evoke motion. The Chinese characters are prominent to show the longevity of the painting tradition over the passage of time.

Banner Iterations

Strategy

The palette was pulled from the exhibition design team that used muted fall tones to pair with the tones found in the hanging scrolls that would be featured throughout the show. I tried different combinations of scrolls and ceramic pieces in the show paired with the logo and show dates for the signs.

Sign Iterations

Final Banner Design

We presented our work to the curator who was very pleased with how the hierarchy kept the Chinese characters prominent in the compositions and
still had a modern and clean feel.