BRIEF.
This was a team project in which we were tasked with branding an exhibition which was to showcase the outstanding World War Two achievements & escapades of the Gestapo's number one most wanted woman: Nancy Wake, or 'The White Mouse'
DEVELOPMENT.
Our initial ideas included 3 themes or viewpoints through which we could potentially portray the exhibition. The first of these was feminism and a celebration of the powerful woman Nancy herself was. The second was the idea of a viewpoint from the Gestapo’s perspective, with a focus on how Wake eluded their capture countless times and was able to keep them guessing. The third theme explored ideas surrounding subterfuge and trickery, with our research looking into ways of visually portraying concealed weapons and hidden power, reflecting the way she so effectively hid behind her femininity.
THE MARK.
We decided that a confident mark would be the most effective way to represent our chosen tone of voice. The name ‘Bombshell’ was chosen as in itself being a single word it is bold and impactful implying a sense of destructive power, while also having the dual meaning of an attractive or desirable woman. Following this, upper-case bold condensed fonts were immediately explored, followed by wood block experimental work, which provided us with the making of our final logo. The use of wood block printing created a distressed and exposed effect, which connotates war and corruption. While the mark is mainly black, a pink full stop was added to give just a hint of femininity. A 23-degree anti clockwise angle was also given to the mark, to give the imperfect appearance of an aftershock of a landed bomb. This was also implemented into the grid structure and consistency rules used for the exhibition space.
THE EXHIBITION.
The final exhibition is laid out as a series of separate rooms with each depicting a particular situation in which her being a woman played greatly to her advantage. Our copy is written, in part, in first person as the story is told emotively to the viewer from Wakes own point of view, with this further being explained factually in the accompanying text. Graphic elements such as heeled footprints on the floor, quotes within context and large, bold and often emotive imagery were used to reflect Wakes personality or imply her presence there.
