Bob Marley Messenger Exhibit

Curated by The GRAMMY® Museum at L.A. Live, the exhibit arrived in Miami after stops in LA, London and Toronto. HistoryMiami Museum engaged us to create a new vision for the exhibition in Miami.

A combination of graphic design and architecture, the task was to design a new take on the traveling exhibit with a limited budget. Bob Marley was a serious, intensely spiritual music legend. The exhibit's design thus reflects a more serious, simple and introspective approach—a side of him not often portrayed.

We steered from the stereotypical Marley brand—his name written in distressed fonts in a sea of cannabis leaves superimposed onto a gradient of Rastafarian colors. Instead, we focused on contrast.

The design transforms Marley’s messages into space, creating a textual backdrop to support the exhibition’s photography, albums, artifacts and other media. The collage of media is modulated by a neutral dark-gray backdrop that pulls vibrant Rastafarian colors and rich black-and-white photography into poignant relief. • AIA Florida Award of Excellence