Give & Take Exihibition Poster 

(Exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London)

Give and Take was an unprecedented partnership between the Serpentine Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum, featuring an innovative exhibition from January 30th to April 1st, 2001. Presenting art at both institutions provided a unique opportunity to explore unexpected connections between contemporary art and the art of the past. The exhibit featured artists such as Ken Aptekar, Xu Bing, Neil Cummings and Marysia Lewandowska, Wim Delvoye, Jeff Koons, Liza Lou, Roxy Paine, J. Morgan Puett and Suzanne Bocanegra, Marc Quinn, Andres Serrano, Yinka Shonibare, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Philip Taaffe.

Serpentine presented ‘Mixed Messages,’ an exhibit by renowned conceptual artist Hans Haacke. Haacke selected objects from across the V&A's permanent collections during a series of research visits in the previous year. In exchange, a group exhibition featuring fifteen contemporary artists was shown in various V&A galleries and spaces. Another exhibit from the Give and Take partnership was conceptualized and selected by Lisa Corrin. This exhibition was labeled as spirited and thought-provoking because it merged two institutional sensibilities and challenged assumptions about different concepts within the visual arts, such as the definition of beauty and the distinction between decorative and fine arts. At the Serpentine, Hans Haacke created his installation, “Mixed Messages,” by selecting around 200 objects from the V&A's permanent collection and presenting them in a previously unseen way. This installation challenged traditional museum displays, highlighting how placing contemporary pieces beside classical works of art can shape meaning and relationships between objects.

This poster was designed by Frost Design as a project of identity and signage for joint exhibitions between the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Serpentine Gallery. At Frost Design, they have a guiding principle that they are never to let anything bland or recessive out the door. They say that in their work, it is essential to make sure they are communicating the right proposition and that it must be relevant to the target audience, and use cost-effective media. But above all, they say that it has to get noticed and have a core value that the work must have an impact. That they also need to design work that demands to be seen.

Through this poster, we see those core values on display with this design for Give & Take. It differentiates itself from other posters through the deliberate combination of directional arrows, typographic hierarchy, and a very controlled color palette. All these elements are deliberately chosen by Frost Design to help bring out a conceptual theme approach to the poster design. Through the decision to add arrows, they become both a visual and a symbolic element to the overall piece. This decision ultimately helps in guiding the viewer's eye through the poster's overall composition and is a part of contact for the viewer's eye.

They showcase these core values through the use of extending the arrows lines towards the top and end of the poster with it being one of the main elements of this poster. By this design choice, it helps further reference the idea of exchange and movement being invoked throughout the exhibition's pieces and its title. This choice helps create a sense of dialogue between artworks and institutions in the show.

Frost Design's choice of type is deliberate. They use a very strong sans-serif font that creates an emphasis on readability and institutional authority. Sizing the lettering of “Give & Take” large, effectively establishes another clear focal point for the viewer's eye. Through deliberate spacing and alignment of the type, an intentional feeling of architecture is created, which helps mirror the exhibition's structure while showcasing artwork between the Serpentine and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The color choice of a dominant red-orange gradient helps further create a sense of urgency and visual intensity. The red-orange in the poster aims to create a sense of attention being drawn to it. If you were to view the poster from a distance, descriptive words of energy and engagement might come to mind. This warm palette contrasts with a clean white background and black typography that makes the text feel even more bold. All in all the choices give the poster an identity that has a strong impact on the viewer, setting it apart from more traditional exhibition posters that rely primarily on imagery rather than typographic and graphic systems.