Sheffield Museums
Celebrating a city’s culture and heritage
Sheffield Museums look after six of the city’s leading museums and heritage sites. We’ve worked with them for over 10 years on a host of exhibition identities and campaigns, signage and wayfinding.
Scroll on to see just a few of these projects. Including the reopening of new galleries at Weston Park Museum, a summer-long campaign across multiple sites encouraging people to take up drawing, and signage and print for Kelham Island Museum.
Dig deeper into Sheffield’s story
Weston Park Museum is a much-loved visitor attraction. We’ve worked on several exhibitions here over the years. Our favourite was Dig Deeper, which encouraged people to come and explore Sheffield’s collections and get to know the city better.
Another time, we illustrated some of the favourite items from the collections for a fundraising campaign and a donor wall. And badges. We love badges.
Kelham Island Museum
Kelham Island Museum tells the story of Sheffield’s rise to prominence as a centre for steel making. As the name suggests, it is somewhat cut off from surrounding areas and for some visitors it was hard to find.
The museum's existing wayfinding had been added at different stages through its history. We were given the chance to re-appraise the signage and make a stronger connection to the museum from surrounding streets.
We used a heritage font and industrial blue to brand the site, along with the graphic device of a Victorian pointing hand (known as a manicule). We introduced a series of signs – from lamppost banners to an enormous mural – to guide people to the museum’s front door. The typography and graphics are sympathetic to the historical site but direct and uncompromising. Much like the people who built the city’s steel industry.
“Eleven go beyond their brief, inspire us to think differently and are excellent to work with on all levels; never missing a deadline and always accommodating our needs.”
Kirstie Hamilton, Director of Programmes, Sheffield Museums
People, power, innovation
The team at Kelham Island Museum asked us to write and design a book about the site. Our narrative was based on three inter-weaving elements that told how and why the area became so important in the production of steel: people, power and innovation. It was a joy to research and write.
We illustrated items from the museum’s collections to help visually tell stories. They ranged from the buffer girls busy making fine silver cutlery shine to the Bessemer converter that greets you at the entrance to the museum.
Ready, steady, draw!
Drawing the Summer was one of our favourite projects for Sheffield Museums. The programme of exhibitions and events got people sketching morning, noon and night.
We created the identity and designed a range of print materials and large format signage. We also produced a citywide drawing trail and promo materials including stickers, pencils and beer mats.
“Eleven’s simple but clever approach for Drawing the Summer enabled us to connect a multitude of ideas under one unified look.”
Kirstie Hamilton, Director of Programmes, Sheffield Museums
