Microscopic headline for big gallery exhibition

A new exhibition held in the gallery at the Francis Crick Institute, Europe’s largest biomedical research facility housing over 1,500 scientists and support staff, is being advertised with a microscopic headline created by design and advertising agency, the Beautiful Meme.

The Beautiful Meme, which has previously worked with brands such as Spotify, the Design Museum, the V&A and Cass Art, has drawn inspiration from the charity’s exhibition theme called ‘Deconstructing Patterns,’ which is a partnership between artists and scientists that seeks to explore the microscopic patterns biomedical research studies.

The Beautiful Meme’s creative director Ross Fordham says, "It’s striking how the techniques of exploration, testing and refining are similar for designers, artists and scientists. You see this clearly in this new exhibition, and it’s something we experienced further as we experimented with the Crick to create this ad.”

The Beautiful Meme has brought to the table an innovative idea that has been cleverly executed and fulfils the purpose of advertising, which is to make people stop and do a double take. The agency has found a great way of getting people curious about a project that unites two seemingly incompatible worlds.

The Crick’s marketing lead, Jo Rynhold, adds, "We are delighted we were able to extend the conversation and bring art and science together, not just in the exhibition but through our advertising as well. Visitors will get a chance to delve further for themselves, as they enter the exquisite and fascinating world of microscopic patterns and experience the research through artist collaborations in the field of sculpture, film and spoken word.”

For the construction of the advert, the headline was 3D printed and infused with fluorescent beads using the help of Crick scientists. Afterward, the letters were photographed through a microscope and the colours used to map patterns were introduced.

The Crick’s exhibition space is open to the public, with TBM’s ‘The discovery of a lunch time’ advertising line highlighting its accessibility.

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