Showtown: Blackpool’s first museum inspired by joy and whimsy of city – Design Week

The branding has been led by Manchester-based True North and positions the new museum with all the charm, appeal and entertainment value of a top-bill seaside attraction.

Dedicated to the towns historic and continued contribution to the UKs entertainment landscape, next year will see the opening of Blackpools first ever museum. Showtown will celebrate the comedians, dancers, circuses, performers and characters that have propelled the seaside towns narrative.

As part of the museums offering, a playful, flexible brand has been created by Manchester-based studio True North. The team got involved with the project via competitive pitch, with managing director Ady Bibby commenting it was an ideal brief for the studio.

A number of us in the studio actually did our formal professional training in Blackpool, and so have personal interest in the area, he adds.

The brand identity for Showtown revolves around a series of brand blocks which have been designed to represent the range of experiences visitors can have inside the museum. The blocks have been given a modular design featuring bright and contrasting colours, taking inspiration from the town itself, according to Steve Royle, creative director at True North.

We knew whatever we created needed to reflect the vibrancy of Blackpool, he says, The town is an assault on the senses, where everything is vying for your attention and Showtown needed a brand that could compete with that.

The blocks feature in the Showtown logo and further applications of the system aim to tell stories in playful and engaging ways. These include depictions of seaside entertainment staples like clowns, ice cream and circus characters, all built out of the block system.

Crucially, says Royle, the system isnt set in stone. True North has worked with exhibition designers Casson Mann and designers at Why Not Associates and Studio Treble to further extend the branding across wayfinding, digital and interiors.

The system should be as fluid and playful as the stories it helps tell, Royle says.

A large part of Showtowns identity will be its position alongside Blackpools other attractions, Royle says. In the context of Blackpools famous promenade, the museum needed to feel as much an attraction as the rollercoasters and rides he adds.

This is echoed by senior designer Victoria Pinnington: The museum essentially has to function as a hybrid there will be the objects and artifacts that you would expect to see in a museum, but there will also be plenty of hands-on experiences to be had.

To effectively marry these two ideas, she says the team decided on something that appears fun, but that also evoked a sense of nostalgia. Its a brand that will get older generations reminiscing, and younger generations discovering.

The Showtime museum is projected to open in 2021. The project represents a 13 million investment from both the government and external sources. It follows the installation of the Blackpool Comedy Carpet along the towns seafront in 2011, which was designed by Gordon Young and Why Not Associates.

Though construction to the space is ongoing, exhibitions scheduled for its opening as reported by the Live Blackpool website include Beside the Seaside, which explores Britons love for the beach; Wonderland, a look into Blackpools Golden Mile sideshows and its role in the development of magic; and Everybody Dance Now, which celebrates the town as the spiritual home of ballroom dancing.

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Showtown: Blackpool's first museum inspired by joy and whimsy of city - Design Week