The Whitworth Art Gallery

I now live about a 5 minute walk to the Whitworth Art Gallery. Quite shockingly, in all my time at university here I never once stepped in to the building; so on that note I thought that this would be a good opportunity to update my blog with some inspiration...

My time at Shillington College has already made me more attuned to good design, and so here it is - today's inspiration. Not in an exhibition, although it does look like a modernist oil panting, but in the museum's cafe.

Thinking about some core design principles I picked up this week I think the overall layout of the photo could just as easily have been composed using InDesign - there's strong contrast, alignment, and it's well balanced.

I don't think it's fair to say that the cafe was the most inspirational part of my visit to the Whitworth. This particular wall was littered with these butterflies, made complete by the shadows created by the wings jutting out of the wall. I like the playful use of the shadow.

And here we have... a framed pencil. If you look carefully you can see that the artist shaded in the length of the pencil in the various stages of its life. I like that. It tells a story.