the egyptian
theatre
Narrative Strategy,
Exhibit Strategy, &
Copywriting
I led a team of designers, historians, scholars, and preservationists to develop a narrative exhibit celebrating the rich history of Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
The exhibit takes an honest, nuanced look at the Egyptian design motifs found throughout the theatre, and offers newfound discernment between what’s inspired from authentic Egyptian culture, and what’s born from trademark Hollywood creativity.
developing a
narrative
Design began with a series of client workshops to brainstorm ideas, gauge reactions to early story directions, and create alignment on critical story elements that aligned with the space, the desired experience, and future audiences.
VALIDATING HISTORICAL
SPECIFICS
After landing on a general story area of authentic representation, our team engaged a Professor of Egyptology from UCLA to help discern the origins and meanings of the culturally-inspired design features throughout the space. This understanding added critical context that informed the direction of the narrative.
Exploring exhibit approaches
After pacing the narrative and laying out story beats across the physical exhibit space, I worked with a joint team of exhibit, interior, and brand designers to curate a repository of inspirational references. Each exhibit approach was tested against the in-progress narrative, allowing us to explore impactful design approaches that could amplify storytelling.
CREATING EMPHASIS
WITH DIMENSION
An extensive sourcing process led by a team of Hollywood historians resulted in a mix of flat photos, dimensional artifacts, and 3D-printed replicas. From here, a pin-mounted exhibit approach allowed us to manipulate the closeness of each artifact to viewers, introducing dimension—in addition to size and scale—as a tool to emphasize especially important story details.
