Hasta La Ideas

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in NYC—home to the recently-opened design exhibition “Talk to Me”—needs no introduction to any art or design enthusiast. Their in-house Department of Advertising and Graphic Design, on the other hand, is almost entirely invisible, yet they deserve just as much recognition. From life-sized typography to murals on apartment buildings, and from exhibit design to limited-edition newspapers, the Department is a powerhouse at delivering art to patrons in the form of an exquisitely wrapped gift.

There is certainly an art to maintaining a balance between drawing visitors into a museum, keeping their attention, and providing information, while disappearing behind the actual exhibit—the work itself—when need be. To this end, the majority of the Department’s design work for the entrances to MoMA’s exhibits is bombastic and hard to miss. What I find interesting, though, is how one best leads a patron through an exhibit (whether through psychology, design, or both) while keeping the art on display and the conversation it has with its visitors the most important part of the experience.

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