Adventures in designing things that aren’t technically logos

By Sarah Barr, Volunteer, Scotland Creates

Our Scotland Creates volunteers are working with curators and other staff from National Museums Scotland to create an exhibition on the theme of Scotland Creates: A Sense of Place.

GREETINGS, FELLOW HUMANS.

So we’re trying to fashion ourselves some sort of logo so that when you come and visit our exhibits you’ll know what’s ours.

Logo. Ok. I’m good at drawing. This’ll be easy. It’ll take five minutes. Yes. Scribble scribble.

I came up with Dolly the Sheep’s face placed over the National Museum crossed punctuation marks, looking like a skull and crossbones. We called it the Dolly Roger. I was a proud little potato.

The Dolly Roger.

Then… Oh. Turns out there are guidelines and things we have to follow.

Lots of them. About fonts and colours and use of museum marks and whatnot.

Ah.

So instead of the Dolly Roger, someone with far more sense than me brought in a clever lady called Eilidh, who also had far more sense than me, from an advertising firm called Frame in Glasgow to have a session with us volunteers about logo design and branding.

Turns out that logos are HARD.

We talked about famous brands and how their logos pop out at us, how simplicity is what we should aim for, and making sure that the logo we come up with really conveys what the heart of the project is all about. So, we grabbed a small forest’s worth of Post-It notes and wrote down words we felt summed up the project and its values, coated a wall with them and gradually whittled them down to a handful of key words.

We then split ourselves up into smaller groups, each group taking a word and trying to come up with some simple, clear images to represent them. The whole group then voted on which images we liked best, which turned out to be:

• A classic house shape with a heart inside it (representing “Home”, as in, home-is-where-the-heart-is… do you see what we did there? Do you? Do you see?)
•  A magnifying glass in various guises (representing “Discovery” which we thought was an important part of identity in Edinburgh)
• Keys, a key, or a keyhole, sometimes dressed up as a thistle (representing a mix of those last two key words. Hah. Key words. Keys. Hah.)

Happy with our ideas for potential motifs, we then had to find a volunteer to put it all together into a logo (Technically, we’re to call it a “visual identity” because the National Museum only has one logo).

Cue some shuffling of feet, and me eventually being stupid and saying “I could give it a go?” or something like that, because I apparently haven’t learned my lesson from my attempt with the Dolly Roger and my brain clearly enjoys torturing me by making me offer to do things I can’t do very well. Huzzah!

So I am working on a handful designs for everyone else to vote on based on the motifs we came up with at the brainstorming session. (I say working; every time I saw my sketchbook and the museum CD called “Identity Guidelines” over the past fortnight I ran away and watched an entire season of Xena:Warrior Princess in the hope that magical little elves will have broken into my flat and done it for me.)

I am so very nearly done though, and will hopefully be done in… ten minutes including procrastinating by writing this blog post. Mostly because I finished Xena. And Game of Thrones. And The X-Files. And somehow haven’t eaten my laptop in a fit of rage at MS Paint and my touchpad, which are as much Adobe Photoshop and a graphics tablet as I am a fairy princess.

And here they are…

‘Home is where the heart is’ motifs.

Key and magnifying glass motifs.

A selection of thistle and keyhole motifs.

Anyway, I hope you like what eventually gets chosen!

Bye for now,

Sarah Barr

 

The Comet and the Space Hoppers: a leaky solution

Mike Loftus, Assistant Aircraft & Technology Conservator at National Museum of Flight, East Fortune

Mike Loftus is responsible for conserving aircraft and other technology objects ranging from complete aircraft to small objects like medals from the collection at National Museums Scotland. Here he describes an unusual conservation solution for the Comet 4C airliner using a retro activity toy! See it on display at the National Museum of Flight, East Fortune.

In the conservation of large engineering objects we use many processes and materials,  many of which remain invisible to the viewer. Some of these processes and materials are vigorously tested in the field of conservation to ensure suitability, durability and reversibility and some will come from industry as engineering standards with decades of case studies and data outlining their suitability for application to objects.

Boy jumping from blast shelter in front of de Havilland Comet 4C, National Museum of Flight, East Fortune.

One such project that requires the application of conservation and industrial processes is the Comet 4C commercial airliner at National Museum of Flight, East Fortune. The main scope of the current work is the prevention of water ingress.

Windows on the Comet 4C at National Museum of Flight, East Fortune.

To facilitate this we are reconditioning the window seals, which requires the windows to be removed from the aircraft. This leaves us with the problem of how to block the holes to prevent the weather getting in whilst the windows are in the workshop.

Inserting Space Hoppers to the windows on the Comet 4C at National Museum of Flight, East Fortune.

Fortunately one of our volunteers, John Thomson, who is a former employee at Torness Power Station, had faced similar problems during his career in nuclear power generation. During the first major power shut down at the power plant in 1989 they had to devise a way of blocking pipe ends whilst work was carried out.

A tight squeeze – Space Hoppers in the Comet, National Museum of Flight, East Fortune

One of the engineers present suggested using one of his grandchildren’s Space Hoppers to plug the hole, denying the child leisure time fun but providing a perfect solution to the engineering problem. As you can see the solution is far from invisible but it is a most effective temporary solution.

Emergency exit window from the Comet undergoing conservation at National Museum of Flight, East Fortune

I will miss the pleasant orange glow mood lighting when they are eventually removed but I’m sure our conservation grade space hoppers will come in handy for future projects.

Space Hoppers on view outside the Comet 4C at National Museum of Flight, East Fortune.

 

Time travelling for volunteers

By Emma Greaves, Events Volunteer

This October I was one of the lucky volunteers who helped out with the National Museum of Scotland’s half-term family activities. Over the course of a week we helped over 2,000 visitors to create a dazzling dinosaur diorama (my own effort, complete with wholly inaccurate modelling clay undersea monsters, is now proudly displayed on my mantelpiece), scary sabre tooth tiger masks and fantastically mucky fossils, made from dental paste and sand.

Prehistoric diorama created by our Family Learning Officer.

I thoroughly enjoyed the week, not just because I got a chance to indulge my very undernourished creative side, but because the staff at the Museum and the visitors proved to be utterly lovely. The team at the museum were helpful, cheerful and welcoming, and as one parent said to me: “It’s lovely to see so many children enjoying themselves and behaving well all together!” Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, from the young boy who insisted on making various sizes of ‘Brownosaurus’ for his diorama, to the very young cousins who took turns scaring each other in their masks, to the enthusiastic fossil hunters brushing the sand from their fossils straight into mum’s bag.

The children loved the activities, and that made it a joy to be there helping them. Having just moved to Edinburgh it was great to meet so many history enthusiasts of all ages, and to feel like I had become a part of the Museum. Although it was at times exhausting, it was worth it, and I wore my bright purple t-shirt with pride. I can’t wait to find out what I’ll be doing next time!

 

Airshow nearly airborne!

 By Alpha-Alpha, National Museum of Flight, East Fortune

Not long to go now…to the much awaited Airshow at National Museum of Flight, East Fortune on Saturday 28 July. There’s still time to get 15% off admission: book tickets here.

Much of the work in the weeks before the Airshow is ensuring that all of our traders, caterers and exhibitors have sent in all their licences, risk assessments and insurances so that we can submit them all to the Licensing Department at East Lothian  Council, and also making sure all the staff and volunteers are briefed fully on event security and safety plans, and information that the visitors will need on the day. I’ve been working with the Rotary Clubs of Tranent, Longniddry, Haddington and North Berwick to provide an invaluable wristband identification service for children. I’m continuing to talk to suppliers and sponsors: Wisemans are giving us juice and milk for all our cadets and a loan of fridges for the packed lunches – we would not know what to do without them!

A Red Arrows’ Hawk jet in action © MOD Crown Copyright.

The official Airshow programme detailing the line-up is being finalised and we work with the Flight Director to source and choose appropriate images, aircraft history specifications and interesting facts from the pilots themselves.  Businesses in the local community, charities, the RAF and National Museums Scotland also contribute written pieces and take advertising space.

Flight Director’s control tower at the Airshow at National Museum of Flight, East Fortune in 2011.

Discussions have taken place with East Coast FM for the on ground entertainment announcements and background on all the entertainers. For the flight display in the afternoon, we have a dedicated commentator and Red 10 will commentate specially for the Red Arrows display. The Prentice Coaches timetable for the free shuttle bus from North Berwick Station and also Haddington town centre are all in place.  Additionally, transportation has been confirmed for all the pilots who are going to be available for the meet-and-greets in front of the Flight Director’s Event Tower in the afternoon.

On the ground entertainment interviews have also been arranged with Jamie Squibb, Aviatricks, Musical Youth and Encore and Tony Yule, the former Concorde pilot. Tony will be helping with the meeting and greeting of the 100 Radio Forth Prize-winners at their VIP Buffet breakfast with Boogie and Dingo from Radio Forth.

Airshow visitors seated in front of the Vulcan bomber at the Airshow, National Museum of Flight, East Fortune in 2011.

If visitors are feeling peckish there will be a wide choice of Airshow culinary delights to choose from, this year we have catering provided by our on site Aviator Café plus:

• Ashers Ice Cream
• Cafe2U – coffee vans
• Decadent Delights – home and handmade cream and butter fudges
• Grants Ice Cream
• MoBoJos – new! from their highly praised Café at Rosslyn Chapel
• S Luca Of Musselburgh
• Sweet City
• Hot Dog King
• Berries and Cream
• Tasty Kitchen – fast food
• The Good Food Shop – home-made pies and bridies
• The New American Donut Company
• Waterloo Bistro – Bar and BBQ
• West Coast Kettle Corn – new! popcorn
• Well Hung and Tender
• Twirly Tatties – new!

We are also been greatly assisted again by the lovely team of volunteer ladies who come and help us every year ensuring the emergency services personnel, staff and volunteers are kept topped up with tea, coffee and biscuits in the Crew Room area – this is crucial on the day and without this service we would be lost!

Sea King helicopter on approach at the Airshow at National Museum of Flight, East Fortune in 2011.

Plotting and marking out all the site and car park areas in anticipation for the thousands of  visitors is well underway and there’s only one more meeting to go with the Emergency Planning Team. We have also been busy putting up banners, posters and leaflets and tidying up our aircraft and hangars and exhibition areas to welcome all the visitors.  Finally, passes and packs for exhibitors and participants will be posted in couple of weeks… and then it’s nearly all over. Time to sleep maybe, but not just yet!

Please note all information is correct at the time of publishing. Flights and timings are subject to change, prevailing weather conditions and operational requirements.

 

A jump into history

By Eduardo Marin, volunteer Flickr moderator

Sunday 27 March was a sad but exciting day. At exactly midday, three members of the Golden Lions Parachute Display Team made their last ever jump over the National Museum of Flight. At that moment, 42 years of history ended: after having performed all over the world, the Golden Lions are hanging up their parachutes. Catch a bird’s eye view of the jump in this video.

After the jump, the three members of the team, Corporal Kev Doust, Lieutenant Corporal Gordon Orrock and Private Johannes Scholtz collected up their gear and led the crowd into hangar 4 to officially hand over the equipment to the museum General Manager, Grant Mackenzie.

The Golden Lions hand over their equipment to Grant Mackenzie.

Corporal Kev Doust, Lieutenant Corporal Gordon Orrock and Private Johannes Scholtz with National Museum of Flight Grant Mackenzie.

After the ceremony, the Golden Lions talked to their fans, especially the younger ones, who were delighted to learn more about parachute jumping from them.

 

Time travel and technical toys: volunteering for the Science and Technology department

By Siri Clausen, Volunteer with the Science and Technology department

There are many reasons why people volunteer at museums. For some it is a way of passing down the knowledge that they have obtained throughout their life, others have a love of history that drives them to give time and effort to keep history alive. I have no such noble reason for giving my time – I was simply bored. Like the retired gentlemen that return week after week, I had a large amount of time on my hands this summer before I return to university for the final year of my university degree, so I decided that rather then sit at home and waste the summer months I would do something with my time.

Each department at the museum is different and the National Museums Scotland encompasses a number of different museums, so there is a place for all kinds of people who are willing to give of their time. I found my place in the Science and Technology department.

When you volunteer you have a specific job or area of work that you dedicate your time to. This is not to say that this is all you do, but it is what you return to time and again to try and complete. For me this task is cataloguing the collection of stereocards, which is part of the larger Howarth-Loomes collection. I am not the only person that is working on this or even the only volunteer, it is a huge and fascinating collection. Each and every set of pictures has a story and it is a chance to travel though time without ever leaving the comfort of the office.

A stereocard from the Howarth-Loomes Collection labelled 'Lunatic Asylum as seen from the Botanic Garden.' It is from Adelaide, South Australia

The National Museum is currently gearing up to open new exhibitions in the coming years and as always new collections are being received. Because of this there are a lot of different types of jobs that need to be done. In addition to cataloguing stereocards, I also worked on an upcoming exhibit for the Art and Industry gallery, which is due to reopen at the same time as the Royal Museum. This has a section which is about technology toys. If you think of the expression “boys and their toys” you will be able to understand some of the excitement that has been in the department. Nobody really grows out of their childhood completely and the sight of a favourite toy never fails to bring back the excitement and sense of adventure that we remember as children. If you go and see the new gallery, look out for the Lego, Meccano and Knex models, which are my contribution.

Some of the toys which are to go on display in the Art and Industry gallery.

How many people get to sit with some period Lego and build what they like, within certain dimensions? That was definitely a highlight of my summer, but there are many more. If looking at toys is not what you enjoy doing, or if you have children of your own that want to try their hand at building their own toys, there is a chance to build a telescope as part of the new schools program or create a working lighthouse. Both are my designs and I hope that it will be fun for the children to build them.

My final job before the summer drew to a close was to catalogue a collection which has been given to us by the NHS, more specifically the Southeast Mobility and Rehabilitation Technology (SMART) Centre. As for what’s actually in the collection, no doubt that will be revealed in a future blog.

Volunteering is well worth your time. If you are considering it then you should try it, it could lead to some amazing experiences and memories. The people that work for the museum have a large range of knowledge, and interests in many different things so there are possibilities for some very interesting discussions.

You can find out more about volunteering for National Museums Scotland here.