New York City

Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

An appreciation of packaging Design of the visual elements for “Packaging the New,” an exhibit surveying 50 years of American industrial design, packaging design, and consumer advertising at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Our responsibilities included the creation of interior and exterior signage as well as the design of publications and posters promoting the exhibit. The exhibit designer was the inspiring Constantin Boym.

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Signs encircled the Cooper-Hewitt Museum on Fifth Avenue.

We created a series of custom-printed boxes in the style of 1950s consumer packaging that were stacked to welcome visitors at the museum entrance.

A "wall of obsolescence" featuring quotes from industrial designers surrounding an image of junked washing machines and dryers.
A timeline installation traces the evolution of consumer product advertising and toaster design.

A silkscreened poster announced the exhibit.

Designers
Alexander Isley
Melinda Beck

Recognition
Federal Design Achievement Award

Collections
The Herb Lubalin Study Center
of Design and Typography

Special Collections Research Center
NC State University Libraries

Museum of Design, Zurich