Scarborough Museums – Museum, Exhibition & Visitor Experience Design
Scarborough Museums and Galleries brings together some of the Yorkshire coast's most important cultural attractions, including the Rotunda Museum, Scarborough Art Gallery and Woodend Gallery and Studios.
Fitzpatrick Design has developed a long-standing creative relationship with Scarborough Museums, working across an extensive range of projects designed to promote exhibitions, improve visitor experiences and make its venues and collections more engaging and accessible to different audiences.
Our work has encompassed exhibition design and creative direction, wayfinding and signage, sensory maps, What's On guides, posters, motion graphics, videography, packaging, educational resources and extensive print and digital marketing communications.
This breadth of work demonstrates how thoughtful design can support every stage of the museum visitor experience — from discovering an exhibition or event through marketing, to navigating and engaging with the physical venue itself.
SERVICES PROVIDED
Museum & Cultural Design
Brand Development
Exhibition Design
Visitor Experience Design
Wayfinding & Signage
Accessible & Inclusive Design
Sensory Map Design
Creative Direction
Motion Graphics
Videography
Packaging Design
“Our relationship with Fitzpatrick Design has realised exceptional results. Critically, our audience figures have increased since the release of the new brochure. This proves that investing in great design is crucial and, more importantly, effective.”
SIMON HEDGES | Head of Curation, Collections & Exhibitions
THE BRIEF
Museums and galleries communicate with an exceptionally broad audience.
Regular visitors, tourists, families, schools and people discovering an exhibition for the first time may all interact with the same organisation, while individual visitors can have very different physical, sensory and communication needs.
Our work with Scarborough Museums has therefore extended far beyond individual marketing campaigns.
The ongoing brief has been to help the organisation communicate clearly and creatively across its venues, exhibitions and visitor touchpoints — supporting everything from audience development and exhibition promotion to accessibility, navigation and educational engagement.
THE CREATIVE APPROACH
Our approach combines strong creative ideas with practical communication design.
Every project begins by considering its audience, purpose and environment.
For an exhibition campaign, that might mean finding a visual idea capable of generating curiosity and encouraging people to visit.
For signage and wayfinding, it means helping people navigate a physical environment quickly and intuitively.
For sensory maps and accessible visitor resources, it means communicating potentially complex information in a clear, reassuring and useful way.
By adapting our creative approach to the purpose of each project, we can develop communications that remain visually engaging while solving genuine visitor and organisational needs.
MUSEUM & EXHIBITION DESIGN
Every exhibition has its own subject, story and audience.
Fitzpatrick Design has provided creative direction and graphic design for exhibitions across Scarborough Museums, developing visual approaches that help transform cultural, artistic and historical content into engaging visitor experiences.
The creative developed for individual exhibitions can then extend into surrounding promotional materials, helping establish a recognisable visual connection between the exhibition and the communications audiences encounter before their visit.
THE RESULT
Our relationship with Scarborough Museums demonstrates the measurable value that effective design and creative communication can bring to cultural organisations.
The work has grown into an extensive creative partnership encompassing exhibitions, marketing, accessibility, visitor experience, education, wayfinding, print, digital communications and moving image.
Importantly, the organisation has also reported increased audience figures following the release of its redesigned brochure.
That provides a tangible measure of success: creative work that doesn't simply improve how an organisation looks, but helps it communicate more effectively and engage more people.
VISITOR EXPERIENCE, WAYFINDING & SIGNAGE
Good museum design continues beyond the exhibition itself.
Visitors need to understand where they are, where they need to go and how different spaces and facilities relate to one another.
Fitzpatrick Design has created wayfinding and signage across Scarborough Museums' venues, helping provide clearer and more intuitive visitor journeys through complex cultural environments.
This work demonstrates the practical role graphic design can play within the physical visitor experience — combining clarity, accessibility and visual consistency.
ACCESSIBLE & INCLUSIVE DESIGN
Inclusive design has formed an important part of our work with Scarborough Museums.
We have created sensory maps covering the Rotunda Museum, Scarborough Art Gallery and Woodend Gallery and Studios, designed to help neurodivergent visitors understand and prepare for different sensory experiences throughout each venue.
The maps communicate where visitors may encounter changes in light, noise, activity and other sensory conditions, allowing people to plan their visit with greater confidence.
Projects such as these demonstrate how thoughtful information design can help cultural organisations make their venues more accessible and welcoming to a wider range of visitors.
For us, accessibility isn't an addition to good design. It's part of good design.
MUSEUM MARKETING & CAMPAIGN DESIGN
Successful museum marketing needs to do more than announce what's on.
It needs to create curiosity and give people a reason to visit.
Across our relationship with Scarborough Museums, we have created posters, campaigns, printed marketing, digital communications and other promotional materials supporting exhibitions, events and the organisation's wider cultural programme.
Each project combines strong visual communication with a clear understanding of the audience and the action the creative needs to generate.
“We have found Fitzpatrick Design to be easy to deal with, with a highly professional and intuitive approach to their work”
SIMON HEDGES | Head of Curation, Collections & Exhibitions
WHAT'S ON GUIDES & BROCHURE DESIGN
What's On guides are an important communication tool for museums, galleries, theatres and cultural organisations.
They bring multiple exhibitions, events and activities together within a single publication and need to make a substantial amount of information both attractive and easy to navigate.
Fitzpatrick Design worked with the Scarborough Museums marketing team to develop a new style of What's On guide, combining engaging visual design with clear information hierarchy and practical usability.
The resulting publication provided a more effective way to promote the organisation's programme — with the client subsequently reporting increased audience figures following its release.
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE DESIGN
Learning and education are fundamental to the role of museums.
We have designed educational resources for Scarborough Museums that help make collections, exhibitions and cultural subjects engaging and accessible to younger audiences, families, schools and other visitors.
Effective educational design needs to balance information with engagement, presenting content in ways that encourage exploration, interaction and understanding.
This adds another dimension to our work with Scarborough Museums: using design not simply to promote cultural experiences, but to help audiences actively engage with them.
MOTION GRAPHICS & VIDEOGRAPHY
Digital and moving-image content provides cultural organisations with additional ways to tell stories and reach audiences beyond the physical museum environment.
Our work for Scarborough Museums has included motion graphics and videography, extending creative ideas into moving-image content that can support exhibitions, education, marketing and digital communications.
By developing print, digital and motion creative as part of the same wider visual approach, individual projects can remain recognisable across different channels and formats.
PACKAGING, PRINT & PHYSICAL COMMUNICATIONS
Our work has also extended into packaging and a wide variety of printed and physical communications.
These projects demonstrate the flexibility required when working with a cultural organisation whose communications can range from exhibition graphics and visitor materials to educational resources, promotional items and retail applications.
Whatever the format, the objective remains the same: clear, engaging design that communicates effectively and enhances the audience experience.
DESIGNING THE COMPLETE VISITOR JOURNEY
One of the strengths of our relationship with Scarborough Museums is the breadth of touchpoints we've been able to influence.
A visitor might first encounter an exhibition through a poster, brochure, digital campaign, video or motion graphic.
They may then use signage and wayfinding to navigate the venue, sensory maps to prepare for the environment, exhibition graphics to engage with its content and educational resources to explore the subject further.
Thinking about these elements as parts of a connected visitor journey creates a more coherent and inclusive experience.
It also demonstrates the value of having a creative partner who understands both the organisation and its audiences over the long term.
DESIGN FOR MUSEUMS, GALLERIES & CULTURAL ORGANISATIONS
Fitzpatrick Design works with museums, galleries, theatres, cultural organisations and visitor attractions to create engaging and accessible communications that connect places, experiences and collections with their audiences.
Our capabilities extend from exhibition design, campaigns and visitor marketing to wayfinding, signage, accessibility resources, educational materials, publications, motion graphics, video and digital creative.
Because these disciplines frequently overlap, we can consider the complete visitor experience rather than treating individual communications in isolation.
Whether promoting an exhibition, improving navigation through a venue, developing more inclusive visitor resources or creating an integrated cultural marketing campaign, our aim is to combine strong creative thinking with clear, effective communication.
OTHER CULTURAL & VISITOR EXPERIENCE WORK
Our work across culture, tourism and visitor experiences includes the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Whitby Lobster Hatchery and Stay in Scarborough, alongside extensive work for hospitality and destination brands.
Together, these projects demonstrate how thoughtful design can help organisations communicate more effectively, improve visitor experiences and build stronger relationships with their audiences.
YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN OUR WORK WITH
OTHER CULTURAL ORGANISATIONS
The Stephen Joseph Theatre
Whitby Lobster Hatchery
Stay in Scarborough
Frequently Asked Questions
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Fitzpatrick Design provides multidisciplinary creative support for museums, galleries and cultural organisations. Our work can include exhibition design, campaigns, wayfinding and signage, sensory maps, accessible visitor communications, educational resources, brochures, What's On guides, posters, motion graphics, videography, packaging and print and digital marketing.
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Yes. We create wayfinding, signage and environmental communications designed to help visitors navigate museums, galleries and other cultural environments clearly and intuitively.
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Yes. Accessible and inclusive communication can form part of our wider visitor experience work. For Scarborough Museums, we created sensory maps for the Rotunda Museum, Scarborough Art Gallery and Woodend Gallery and Studios to help neurodivergent visitors understand potential changes in their sensory environment and prepare for their visit.
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Yes. We design educational and visitor resources that help museums communicate collections, exhibitions and cultural subjects in clear, engaging and accessible ways for schools, families and other audiences.
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Yes. Our multidisciplinary approach can incorporate motion graphics, videography and digital content alongside exhibition creative, campaigns and printed communications, helping cultural organisations communicate consistently across different media.
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Strong design can make cultural experiences easier to discover, understand, navigate and engage with. Scarborough Museums reported increased audience figures following the release of its redesigned brochure, providing a measurable example of the role effective design can play in cultural marketing.