Exhibit Design

Exhibition design for a global conservation campus integrating research, education, and public interpretation

Exhibition graphic designer responsible for schematic and detailed design, translating and extending the established concept into a production-ready graphic system. Following the initial concept phase, I assumed ownership of the exhibition’s graphic system and carried it through development, production, and campus-wide application.

  • Summary

    Exhibition graphic design for the Cindy Broder Conservation Gallery at the Ellen Degeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Fund
  • Studio

    MASS Design Group
  • Collaborators

    Exhibition concept: Local Projects; Graphic concept: Rick Valicenti and Anna Mort (THIRST); Exhibition design and visualization: MASS (Amie Shao, Emily Goldenberg, Maggie Jacobstein Stern, Bethel Abate, Miguel Roldán Signes)
  • Deliverables

    Schematic and detailed exhibition graphic design, applying and extending the established visual system across exhibition, signage, and environmental contexts.
  • Client

    The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund is a center for gorilla conservation and scientific research in Rwanda.
  • View the Project

Each of the over twenty unique typologies, from a small label to a human-scale informational plinth, shares a repeatable visual language.

Whether they appear on a small label on an interactive table, a human-scale plinth, or a wall panel, typography and layout remain the same.

Each of the over twenty unique typologies, from a small label to a human-scale informational plinth, shares a repeatable visual language

All content appears in both English and Kinyarwanda. The type system was carefully calibrated so hierarchy, spacing, and line breaks look considered with varying word lengths across the two languages. Presentation of two languages on one surface requires intention to assure balance and legibility.

Rounded and pebble-like forms recur throughout the exhibition, echoing the architecture of the gallery and the broader campus, purpose-built by MASS Design Group. (Rendering by Miguel Roldán Signes, MASS)

The exhibition graphics and design system was built to extend beyond the gallery into interior and exterior campus signage.

The typography rules, patterns, and shape language were used across directories, wayfinding, and landscape markers. The design system scales easily, working just as well for text-heavy informational displays as it does for small but high-importance elements.

Joelle Riffle