Montreal Science Centre Signage and Branding
Project Vision
The Montreal Science Centre, located on the city’s Old Port, provides fun and surprising exhibitions that allow visitors to explore, learn, and understand science through a variety of interactive means.
Bélanger Branding Design was tasked with upgrading the center’s branding, wayfinding, exterior signage, and the alley of shipping containers used as summer boutiques so that the whole site attracts more visitors and projects the image of “Science and Technology.”
Bélanger’s integrated branding and signage concept incorporates the color red, large molecule sculptures at the center’s main entrance, a series of monumental “funny giants” that add an element of surprise and attract visitors from a distance, and a clear system of wayfinding signage that guides visitors around the site. Aluminum entry and directional pylons are topped with eye-catching red discs that feature pictograms indicating the function. Signs incorporate French and English.
To revitalize the summer boutiques, the design team painted the shipping containers red and added awnings with integrated lighting. Boutique names are identified on discs that correspond to wayfinding signs. Because the boutiques border a section of the Science Centre parking lot, the team also added large white illustrations on the backs of the containers to attract strollers from the other side of the quay.
Thanks to the branding and signage program, the Science Centre is easy to locate, pedestrian traffic is fluid, and visitors have a better overall experience. The boutiques are attractive, easily located, and the vendors are delighted.
Project Details
This breaks out of the directional sign panel to use overscaled icons of the project logo as well as Tom Otterness-like figures to call attention to significant entrances and locations. And this is an example of the effectiveness of red when judiciously used. The red container/boutique alley on the pier connects to the site by color.
Design Team
Anick Blais (principal in charge), Jules Bélanger (senior designer), Julie Margot (senior graphic designer), Martin Racine (technical designer), Anouck Giguère (assistant designer)
Design Firm
Bélanger Branding Design
Fabricators
Enseigne Perfection