For my Exhibition Design final, I had to design an exhibit on the Arts and Crafts Movement. I decided to frame my exhibition around the ongoing debate of “Good Design,” and how William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement played into that.

This was without a doubt the hardest thing I’ve done at Drexel so far, but it was also the most fun I’ve had working on a project.

One wall of the Exhibition is centered on covering the Arts and Crafts Movement, while the other wall covers William Morris and his contributions to pattern design.

Because the Arts and Crafts Movement was all about appreciating hand-created designs, I paid special attention to the materials I used my exhibition. The pattern designs are printed on fabric in order to create a tactile quality, encouraging the viewer to feel the patterns on the wall.

The use of wood throughout the exhibition demonstrates how the Arts and Crafts designers looked to nature and the countryside for inspiration.

The television screen on the right side plays a silent video from the Victoria & Albert Museum showing the complex process of printing a William Morris Pattern design.

This side of the exhibition introduces viewers to the debate of Good Design. The exhibition shows how the Arts and Crafts movement emerged as a reaction to the decline in design as a result of machine-production.

The right portion of the wall is an edge to edge screen, showing a data-driven version of one of William Morris’s patterns. On the iPad mounted onto the green panel, viewers can answer questions and contribute to the Good Design debate. Their answers are reflected in the colors shown in the data-driven pattern.

The introductory “What makes design good?” panel is screen-printed onto a canvas fabric, which will be hung from the wall. The use of canvas adds a tactile quality to the exhibition and encourages viewers to feel the fabric.

I did hours of meticulous research and wrote all of the body copy myself, taking my time to condense the information into small, easy to read chunks.

The wood paneled flooring brings a sense of unity to both walls, creating a sense of interior space. Impactful quotes from William Morris and John Ruskin are laid on the floor, to grab the attention of viewers walking by from either direction.