How do you tell the stories of Brisbane?

THE BRAND
Goldi developed the  brand identity for The Storytellers exhibition, drawing on paper cut references and reflecting the shape of the river flowing through the city and the exhibition itself to create a distinct typographic mark. Classic storybook illustration references interact with the logotype to form a strong brand mark, used across marketing collateral, signage, advertising and a publication featuring the short stories in a novel format.

THE EXHIBITION
Museum of Brisbane commissioned Brisbane writers to respond to the evolution of Brisbane, drawing on their own and collective memories.

Goldi was tasked with interpreting these stories and bringing them to life visually, in a life size illustration of the places and spaces that connect with the memories and history of our city.

Each writer’s work is the central inspiration for a room within the exhibition. Object, artworks and text combine with an immersive space where the visitor is transported to the locations from Red Hill through to Kangaroo Point, Fortitude Valley to Boggo Road.

THE PROCESS
Through a process of distillation of the writers ideas, themes and character, and drawing from iconic references and imagery, our illustrations were developed from initial sketch through to final vector artwork. The technical process involved incorporating many real objects and artworks into the illustrations, aiming for a cohesive story where the two sat comfortably juxtaposed. The final illustration was handed over to the very competent Simon Degroot and his team of students to hand paint onto the individual walls with the help of projection.

THE POINCIANA TREE
Matthew Condon’s story covers darker history across Brisbane, and is located in the dark central spine of the exhibition, symbolising the Brisbane River running through the centre of the city, with each of the other rooms flowing from it.

The wall graphics in this space visually depict the metaphorical Poinciana tree featured in Matthew’s story, with the main branches representing the bending flow of the river as it winds of the city.