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America Participates
Type of design: Print, logo, wayfinding.
​The Smithsonian National Museum of American History's mission is to empower people to create a just and compassionate future by exploring, preserving, and sharing the complexity of our past.
Project Overview:

The Smithsonian wanted a campaign to show the spirit of civic engagement and volunteerism in America. The campaign was to also include museum artifacts that were on display. Additionally, museum officials wanted a logo mark to appear throughout the building to integrate artifacts into the thematic campaign.

Final Design:

The final banners highlight two museum artifacts that exemplify civic engagement: a boot used by firefighters to collect funds to fight muscular dystrophy, and an illustration from the 1976 Democratic Convention nominatng Jimmy Carter to the Democratic ticket. See the Logos page for logo development and considerations.
Building banner final designs featuring firefighter's boot and campaign convention artwork.
The final banner designs.
Google maps street view picture of final banners on display.
Google maps street view.
Final logo treatment in vertical and horizontal orientations on light and dark background.
Final logo treatment. For development, see Logos page.
Alternative banner designs featuring photos of 1960's voting rights activist and candlelight vigil on national mall.
Alternative banner design.
Alternative Banner Design:
​These alternative banner designs showed two fundamentally American expressions of engagement: voting activism and gathering en masse in a show of unity. If this design had been chosen, additional imagery would have been used throughout the museum and exhibitions.
Alternative banners redesigned for exterior street pylons in red and blue.
Exterior street pylons.
Alternative banner images redesigned for interior wayfinding kiosk in red and blue.
Interior wayfinding kiosks.
Development and older design concepts:
The project theme of "America Participates" was so broad that all the museum staff had different visions of what the final campaign would look like. I worked under the direction of the Design Manager to help narrow the range of conceptual expectations. These early ideas were ultimately rejected for simpler and more artifact based designs.
Early banner designs with photos of Women Air Service Pilots and the Civilian Conservation Corps.
An early banner design.
Older Concepts
Side by side images of kiosks with black and white historical photos overlaid with red and blue circles that create dynamic motion.
An early kiosk design.
Side by side images of street pylons with black and white historical photos overlaid with red and blue circles that create dynamic motion.
An early street pylon design.
Image of kiosk with image of a statue of a man listening to the radio from the FDR memorial Fireside Chat section.
An early kiosk design - part of the FDR memorial's "Fireside Chat" section.
Image of kiosk with sepia toned image of President LBJ casting a vote, highlighting the ballot in his hand.
An early kiosk design - LBJ casting a vote.
Image of a group of suffragettes standing next to a contrasting modern voting machine.
An early kiosk design - early suffragettes with a modern voting machine.
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