Illustration | Design | Rebranding
Overview
Bullock Museum Store
T.Rex: The Ultimate Predator
From October 18th to March 8th, The traveling exhibit “T.Rex: The Ultimate Predator”, which is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, was put on for viewing at the Bullock Museum in Austin, Texas.
I was tasked to create all the custom merchandise for the retail store to sale. This would consist of a T-shirt design, hat design, drink ware, magnet designs. I would have to create all original designs, without using the official exhibition name and the Bullock Logo. I would work closely with the retail team, along with working with vendors. These designs would have to be completed as soon as possible. The two major vendors I would work with would need the designs completed .
The Challenge
Ideation and Insiration
After being asked by the retail team to design the merchandise, I had an idea in mind of what I was wanting to design. The image of a T.Rex attacking the city was the first thing that came to mind. I wanted to respectfully incorporate the museum and the dinosaur together. I wanted to have either the actual building, a well known exhibit, or the most known part of the museum, the star. Overall, I wanted the shirt to show the experience of seeing the mighty T.Rex at the Bullock Museum in Texas.
Creative Brief
The Purpose of the exhibit is to educate children and adults about the tyrannosaurus rex. The purpose of the store is to fund the museum for future exhibitions.
Messages
T. rex: The Ultimate Predator reveals the amazing story of the most iconic dinosaur in the world through stunning life-sized models, fossils and casts, and engaging interactives.
Medium
At the store, there will be plush dinosaurs, books, trinkets, keychains, mugs, magnets, t-shirts, hats, and stickers. The T-shirt, hat, magnets, mugs, and stickers will have to be museum custom items.
Brand Personality
We have to avoid using the “T-Rex: The Ultimate Predator” name on all items. We also had to avoid using the Bullock logo.
Call to Action
We want to customers to go see the exhibition and go to the store to see things that relate to what they saw in there. We want them to be able to take a memory of the exhibit home with them.
Metrics
We’ll know how successful our tactics have been based on weekly sales reports
Moodboard
For my first moodboard, I took inspiration from the exhibition itself. The exhibition really emphasizes on the realistic look of the T.Rex, show and teaching people that birds are related to dinosaurs. So for my first moodboard, I wanted to emphasize that in the design.
For my second moodboard, I liked the idea of bringing dinosaurs to the 21st centry, showing a giant T.Rex in eras of history, in the middle of cites, or in museums. This design would be fun for children.
Sketches
Digital Drafts
Round 1
Round 2
T-Shirt Designs
Round 1
Round 2
Final Designs
T-shirt
T-Rex Head
T-Rex and La Belle
Prehistoric era
Mockups
T-shirts
Magnets
Mugs
Bonus Design
Trucker Cap
beanie
Reflection
I was very happy the way these designs came out. In the end, the team wanted three separate designs, with one having the spotlight. The main image they went with reflected a collaboration between the T.Rex exhibition and the most known exhibition to the museum, the La Belle ship, the La Salle’s last voyage.
As for the T-shirt design, this one went through a few different phases. The challenge here was the screen printing limitations. It was because of the 6-color limitations, the design had to be altered. Another challenge was the “Bullock Museum” placement on the t-shirt. Because of the style guidelines and the inability to use the actual museum logo, we had to find an alternate way to show that this design was museum made. I gave the team multiple color choices and they went with three different colors; one to pair with the blue of the exhibit, green to go nicely with the dinosaur design, and a red for the youth shirts to give the children a fun bright color. In the end, we were all very pleased with the design.
We also had a last minute addition to our list of deliverables, thanks to high customer requests and great sales. I was tasked to design a hat and beanie. I grew fond of one of the t-shirt designs and really wanted to use it in some form. I took the head of the second design, simplified it by taking out some of the details so stitching could be possible, and chose a color that would pair well with both final shirt colors. We went with the brown trucker style hat and a gray beanie.
Overall, I was very pleased with the end results of this project.
