The non-profit association EspaceTemps aims to safeguard the history of this unique Swiss scientific heritage, to promote it by restoring faulty objects and to present it to the public. It has decided to create an exhibition in the Hirsch Pavilion provided by the State of Neuchâtel.
In autumn 2019, the association’s committee decided to abandon the name AMSTN (Association pour la création du musée de la science et de la technique) in order to focus exclusively on the observatory’s heritage, which is already a very broad mission for the association’s resources. I was in charge of defining a new graphic identity.
The first ideas used the reference to the time signal sent by the observatory on Swiss radio, which was known to all citizens. I used 3 points referring to the signals sent on the radio
The reference to the clock and the watch was also important because the Observatory was at the heart of the evolution of watchmaking in the region. The dial as a graphic element is interesting because as soon as it is transformed into 3D, one has the impression of seeing a galaxy, something that refers to the sky, to the universe. It is interesting to make the link between the clock and the sky, because the first period of the observatory was based on the observation of the movement of the stars to calibrate the reference clocks.
Some proposals used the reference to the observatory building. But this became too first degree.
The choice fell on the use of hands in an ellipse made up of small points referring to the observed stars. The notion of galaxy is still present and the typography is integrated into the design.
The colour blue was chosen because it refers to the observation of the sky, space, science and technology. It is also associated with dreaming and the marvellous, which is a good match for what an exhibition can bring.
An A5 flyer was developed to present the association and the search for new members, as well as a website and a Facebook account.
There are 3 main axes to present and communicate this exhibition :
- The Neuchâtel Observatory, a unique scientific heritage to be rediscovered
- The measurement of time, from stars to atoms
- Broadcasting the time throughout Switzerland for more than a century
Elements of communication to be developed for the exhibition
Website
A more elaborate version of the website is being developed in WordPress and will be released at the same time as the opening of the exhibition. The exhibition will be the main content with a rich documentation of texts, archives and videos presenting the observatory’s activities and research. There will also be a programme of activities related to the themes on display.
Prototype in PDF
Posters
Production of A3 posters to be sent to the tourist offices of the Jura arc and to the museums of the canton of Neuchâtel.
Prototype in PDF
Leaflet (6-page leaflet)
Presentation of the exhibition for distribution in the canton of Neuchâtel and in more specific locations in Switzerland :
- tourist offices of the Jura arc (Yverdon to Delémont)
- museums, especially watchmaking and science museums
- technical and engineering schools, universities (scientific faculties), polytechnics (EPFL, ETHZ)
- scientific and technical heritage sites
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