CASE STUDY
JOVIAN WIND MUSEUM EXHIBITION
Instructor : Dermot MacCormack
Tyler School of Art, Graphic and Interactive Design Program
COMPONENTS
Brand Identity | Motion Graphics | Catalogue Design | Web Design & Development | App Design & PrototypingTL;DR
Jovian Wind is a concept for a museum exhibition that showcases mesmerizing, psychedelic photographs of Jupiter taken by NASA’s spacecraft Juno. INTRODUCTION
WHAT’S JOVIAN WIND ABOUT?
Nasa’s solar-powered, unmanned spacecraft, Juno, was launched on August 5th, 2011 and entered orbit around Jupiter on July 4th, 2016. Juno’s mission and main scientific goals center around studying Jupiter’s gravity and magnetic fields, atmospheric dynamics and composition, interior and core structure, and origin and evolution. Juno’s mission is ongoing; the spacecraft is currently orbiting Jupiter and the science operations are projected to end in July of 2021.The “Jovian Wind” art exhibit showcases grandiose, larger-than-life scale reproductions of some of the most magnificent images released by NASA. The images featured in the exhibit were captured by Juno’s scientific instrument, the JunoCam. These particular images have been carefully curated because of their painterly aesthetic and semblance to manmade, abstract artworks. The subject, Jupiter, is almost unidentifiable at first glance because the planet’s atmosphere fills the images with vibrant undulating color, picturesque cloudscapes, mesmerizing texture, and psychedelic swirls. For the first time, mankind is able to peer below the dense clouds and unlock the secrets of our solar system’s gas giant, Jupiter, and in the process, maybe even uncover the mysteries of the origin of our entire solar system. Experience Jupiter like never before when you visit the “Jovian Wind” exhibit this fall at the Marius Museum.
AESTHETIC DECISIONS
In my branding I wanted to use black and white as to not distract from the beautiful but busy imagery of Jupiter. I also wanted to embrace and show off this bold imagery as much as possible and that’s why on the website and museum catalogue I chose to make the imagery large, by making full bleed folios and stretching images across the full width of the screen.I let the incredibly beautiful images of Jupiter drive the entire project. I was very interested in taking the static Jupiter imagery and making it my own by digitally altering it. In my promotional animation used warping effects to make it appear to move. While making my catalogue, I altered the images again to make them stereoscopic (3D) to connect back to the psychedelic nature of the imagery.
I chose the the typefaces Europa and Kepler as a sort of tongue-in-cheek typography joke because both of their names have to do with outer space or Jupiter. Aesthetically, I think they work well together because they’re simplicity makes them blend in. I also enjoy the contrast between the geometric sans-serif Europa and modern serif Kepler.
I came up with the name of the exhibition because in Roman mythology Jovian means “of or like the god Jove (or Jupiter)” and because the Jupiter images show the planet’s gaseous, windy atmosphere. I came up with the name for the Marius Museum because of the German astronomer Simon Marius who observed and studied Jupiter and its largest moons.
I came up with the concept for the “Jovian Wind” logo while looking at photographs of Jupiter. I wanted to take what I was seeing and geometrically reduce it to a minimal form. I carried this same sort of mindset to the design of the Marius Museum’s logo where I reduced the initials MM down to simple, continuous lines.
I came up with the concept for the “Jovian Wind” logo while looking at photographs of Jupiter. I wanted to take what I was seeing and geometrically reduce it to a minimal form. I carried this same sort of mindset to the design of the Marius Museum’s logo where I reduced the initials MM down to simple, continuous lines.