Redman Design worked closely with the National Museum of the Royal Navy to create a new series of galleries that tell the story of the Royal Navy throughout the 20th Century. Situated within the historic Storehouse 10, located at Portsmouth’s historic dockyard, the new galleries connect to the story of the sailing Navy through a new link building, allowing the museum to tell the whole story of the Royal Navy from its inception to the modern day for the first time.
The new gallery explains the changing nature of naval technology and the global reach of the navy’s operations in peacetime and conflict through the eyes and the experiences of ordinary service personnel.
Our approach to the space preserves the historic shell of Storehouse 10 and inserts modern displays, creating a series of galleries that are open, intriguing and easy to navigate.
The new gallery makes use of a wide range of interpretive approaches to create a dynamic and exciting space for visitors to explore. Broken into four key spaces it presents opportunities to explore the story thematically and chronologically. The Changing Technology space provides hand-on and computer based exhibits for visitors to interact with.
Redman Design developed a graphic scheme that supported the need to represent individual voices as well as telling the ‘big picture’. Our approach encompassed large scale, high-impact images with smaller, more personal interpretation that surrounds personal objects and stories.
The project has created new ways of working and engaging with the museum’s target audiences. They have been involved in the design process from the outset through survey, consultation and focus groups and have directly influenced gallery development and activity planning. The project has worked with specific groups to create content both for the exhibitions, and supporting resources.
A ‘Community Panel’ made up of representatives who have already been involved in focus group consultation have helped test ideas for interactives and contribute to content development. The project has involved people directly in the selection of individual objects, accounts and audio extracts.