Missions : communication strategy, graphic identity and signage, design and production of multimedia and interactive communication tools

As a cultural facility largely bases its communication on its mediation aims, we decided to set up a cultural communication department. We offer our partners an integrated solution, that covers all the stages of the visitor’s experience, interlinking mediation and communications.
Our long experience in cultural mediation and our innovative use of new technologies in the contemporary cultural landscape provide the basis for the department’s work.
We have set out to provide a solution that tailors our experience of the cultural public and new technologies to your communication needs

UNDERSTANDING THE PUBLICS

Before setting out a strategy, we carry out an in-depth analysis of your audience. The aim is to answer the simple question «who are they?» We need to know and understand their diversity (adults, children, disabled people…) and their characteristics (geographical origins, socio-professional categories, cultural habits, what motivates them, etc.).

This initial step gives us a better understanding of your strategy (which goes beyond the field of communication) on the one hand; and to gain a better vision of what visitors expect from the facility. It also, of course, quite simply helps us to come up with an efficient strategy.

A PRE- AND POST- VISIT STRATEGY

The relationship between the cultural facility and the public does not come to an end once the visit is finished. We propose an overall strategy incorporating the visitor before, during and after he/she has been round the museum.

Before the visit
Communication, through the image it conveys, provides a gateway to the cultural opportunities offered by the facility. It fulfils a number of roles:

• Introduction to the museum: the strategy links the outside environment of the facility to an image, which positions it in a cultural background. We help our partner define and shape this image;

• Going through the door: the strategy also provides an incentive and inspires the public to become part of the museum or exhibition and enjoy a unique experience.

During the visit
Communication also plays an active role during the visit, helping the visitor round the exhibits. The first tool is signage, which includes all the items and pictograms to mark out the visitor’s path through the museum or facility.
Other supports include brochures or printed documents, which present the institution, and its internal organization.

After the visit
The end of the visit does not mean there is no more contact between the facility and its public. We help our partners come up with efficient solutions to foster a sustainable relationship with its visitors:

• Transition between inside and outside: communication offers a range of merchandising-based possibilities to build links between the visit and the visitor’s everyday life (store, catalogs, etc.)

• Forming a community: giving people a feeling of belonging contributes to a cultural facility’s image and dynamism. The communication strategy helps forge this community spirit and boosts the institution’s impact within its environment.

IMPLEMENTING RESSOURCES

Once the initial strategy has been defined, the next issue to be tackled is the kind of tools we can use to help reach the objectives.
This means coming up with a solution tailored to your needs, based on an approach combining the best of conventional and innovative new resources.

NEW TECHNOLOGIES

NT brings a new vision of communications, by involving the audience in an interactive, dynamic experience. They offer a number of advantages over traditional technologies:

• Reactivity and simplicity

Most multimedia tools can be easily updated, by the facility itself (e.g.: a website). These tools are part of our lifestyle, and are simple to use. The close relationship built up between the medium and the public creates a new trend in communication.

• A new interface

NTs go beyond the traditional transmitter / receiver way of communicating. In the new interface, the audience is part and parcel of the communication - it can produce content (e.g.: wikis, blogs…). The end result is membership of a community, boosting and driving awareness (e.g. through social networks, Facebook, Second Life…), of the institution.

• Increased mobility

Our lifestyle means we are more and more on the move, and NTs are a fundamental part of this trend (e.g.: cell phones, PocketPC…). It is now possible to reach a wider audience, outside traditional circles like the home or office. These new instruments produce new techniques, that are part of the Web 2.0 appeal (e.g.: flash mob, buzz…) and which, by the effect of surprise and the appeal to the emotions, are integral to communication objectives.

INTEGRATING CONVENTIONAL TOOLS

Our expertise does not of course stop with NT. The strategy also includes the use of more conventional tools, which are used to inform the public and also to reach a wider audience, which might not have access to NT.
Press relations: design of press packs and press releases, organization of press conferences and journalist visits, follow-up, etc.

• Public relations: creating events, seeking out sponsors, etc.

• Media campaigns: posters, media advertising, etc.

THE IMPORTANCE OF GRAPHICS AND SIGNAGE

We design visual communication strategy: identity program, guidance and information systems within the institution, signage… Graphics and signage are primary as they are present at all the stages: from the pre- to the post-visit stage, both inside and outside the institution.

Graphics
Graphics includes the design of a complete and unique visual identity. Before starting, we draw up guidelines based on semantic and symbolic research.

Graphics is generally defined by its main functions, which are:

• To attract attention: appeal (posters, covers…)

• Layout: readability (panels, signs, catalogs…)

• To identify: to help rapid recognition (logotype, recurrent elements / common thread…)

• To inform: outside as well as inside, to guide and provide information in the area (signage)

• For the screen: tailoring visual identity to the interactive environment (website, CD-Rom…)

Our work is determined by the will to take into account all types of publics (adults, children, specialist or novices, disabled people). Particular attention is paid to the early-stage work on the typography, colors, materials, the destination media, in strict accordance with the charter, but also with all the elements and factors relating to the installation site and its specific features.

Signage
There are two kinds of signage:

• Directional signage: showing the way round an facility. This is involves analysing traffic flows and circulation, defining the types of information, the information content and factoring in other visual factors (adequate visibility and readability)

• Signage inside the facility: to provide visitors with information on exhibits /areas, to stimulate thought and give depth and structure to the message, while remaining within the overall graphic identity and allowing for all the different types of visitors, in particular the partially sighted and those with reduced mobility.

Our work is driven by the need to embrace all types of public (adults, children, specialists or laymen, disabled people). Particular attention is paid to the early-stage work on typography, colors, materials, the destination media, in strict accordance with the graphic identity, but also with all the elements and factors relating to the exhibition site and its specific features.