The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is a highly respected institution in California known for its engaging exhibitions about the natural world. The museum’s gift stores offer custom-designed souvenir products inspired directly by these exhibitions, giving visitors a meaningful way to take home a piece of their experience.
SCOPE OF WORK
Creative Ideation
Creative Direction
Product Design
Packaging Design
Management of Multidisciplinary Team
Creative Direction
Product Design
Packaging Design
Management of Multidisciplinary Team
For the traveling exhibition Mummies: New Secrets From the Tombs, I was brought in as Creative Director to develop six distinct merchandise collections for the exhibition gift shop—each with a unique creative approach and custom artwork applied across a variety of products.
Challenges included an extremely tight timeline, a strict directive not to feature mummies, the need to represent two distinct cultures (Egypt and Peru), and a request to incorporate the exhibition’s focus on science—specifically the use of CT scan technology to study mummies non-invasively—while still creating items visitors would want to purchase. I led a team of designers, illustrators, and production artists through every phase, from artwork development to product layout to production.
Each item required approval from the head buyer, museum art director, exhibition director, and curators to ensure design quality and cultural accuracy. All six collections were produced on time and successfully launched for the exhibition’s opening.
This custom collection draws inspiration from ancient Egypt, featuring a sophisticated visual style with clean, bold illustrations and a refined black, gold, and white palette designed to appeal to adults. Iconography linked to ancient Egyptian culture—including mummification and tomb imagery—was thoughtfully incorporated to honor the exhibition’s focus. I worked closely with illustrators and designers to guide the artwork’s creation and application across products, delivering a fresh, elegant alternative to typical mummy-themed merchandise.
With bold, clean designs in a vibrant palette of blue, green, yellow, red, and black, I oversaw illustrators and designers in creating kid-friendly artwork inspired by ancient Egyptian iconography—such as the cat goddess, cobras, hieroglyphics, and sarcophagi—to appeal to younger visitors while staying true to the exhibition’s themes.
The dual culture collection was the most challenging, as it needed to reflect the exhibition’s focus on CT scanning in a way that worked for retail products. I concepted dual illustrated timelines—one Egyptian, one Peruvian—tracing each culture’s mummification practices, excavation, scanning process, and arrival at the museum. I worked closely with the illustrator to define each step and guided the designer in laying out the timelines dynamically across product formats.
Featuring original photography of artifacts and mummies provided by the exhibition director, I guided the design team to thoughtfully apply these images across products, ensuring each piece aligned with the exhibition’s brand identity.
A challenge in creating custom products for ancient Peruvian culture was the limited reference materials on iconography and artifacts. Our illustrators developed artwork inspired by Paracas geoglyphs and Tumi artifacts based on the available references. To ensure cultural sensitivity and respect, we sought and received explicit approval from the museum’s art director, exhibition director, and curators before moving forward with this artistic direction. Once approved, my team applied the artwork across a variety of products, creating a meaningful connection to the ancient Peruvian culture featured in the exhibition.
For the kids’ collection, we created custom designs inspired by Nazca pottery to connect with the ancient Peruvian culture featured in the exhibition, as reference material was limited. To ensure cultural respect, we sought and received explicit approval from the museum’s art director, exhibition director, and curators before applying this iconography across products. The collection features a kid-friendly palette of green, black, orange, and blue.
The gift shop, located at the exit of the exhibition, was designed to extend the immersive experience with moody black lighting and cohesive exhibition branding. This atmosphere allowed the custom product collections to seamlessly integrate with market product procured by the buying team, creating a unified and engaging retail environment for visitors.
