Behind the mark

MoAD or Museum of the African Diaspora? When I first looked at the museum’s logo
I did not get it at first. I actually had no idea what “Diaspora” meant. So I decided to write out the whole name of the museum, rather than use it’s acronym.

The seeds in the corner of the mark represent the people of Africa. The arragement and color palette of the seeds represents the movement and spread of the African culture around the world. This one element gives meaning to the mark, its own story.

Signage Movement

As for signage, I decided to make the word “Diaspora” the main concept. Since many people don’t know what Diaspora means, I thought displaying the definition and showing an illustration would be a bold, simple, and memorable poster for the movement. The illustration of the tree growing from Africa, represents the growth of the African natives and the movement of the seeds represents their movement to other places around the world.

Tour Companion

My first experience at the museum was great overall, but walking around by myself reading all of the descriptions got a little bit boring after a while. So I thought it would be a cool idea to create a tour companion for visitors to download for free on their smart phones. The tour companion has audio tours for individuals and for groups.

The audio tours will take you on a journey through the visuals at the museum and play traditional African music along with the interviews and narrations throughout the tour. The tour companion will also have updated stories for those who want to follow and continue exploring the history of the Diaspora. General information of the museum and mobile ticketing are on the tour companion as well for convenience.