Designing Motherhood

An exhibition designed for and reflecting upon the different stages of pregnancy and childbirth, from conception through to postpartum. Over 200 objects from around the world feature in Designing Motherhood: everything from tiny IUDs to large-scale textile prints, photography, product design, maternal and newborn health innovations, and maternity fashion.

Agency

Studio Matthews

Practice Area

Client

Gates Foundation

Industry

The Challenge

Working with a joint curatorial team from the Gates Discovery Center and Designing Motherhood, one of our challenges was to help the visitor make sense of such a wide array of items. A long, winding ‘umbilical table’ organizes the eclectic yet powerful content into the chronological stages of pregnancy, to help guide the visitor.

Project Vision

Designing Motherhood examines not only the design of objects connected with childbirth, but their powerful socio- and political impact. Audience engagement—rather than just passive viewing—was a key goal. We worked to design four different types of activity, including building a collective timeline about parental leave. Visitors were also encouraged to learn what it’s like to ‘wear a baby’’ — they could try out wearing a cloth wrap baby carrier, using a life-like NeoNatalie ‘infant.’

An ‘umbilical table’ organizes eclectic yet powerful content into the chronological stages of pregnancy, to help guide the visitor.

Studio Matthews

A collective sticker-based data interactive about parental leave asks visitors to mark along the timeline their allotted weeks off for parental leave (and whether it was paid or unpaid).

Studio Matthews

Design + Execution

To give the many small artifacts visual presence and contrast against the wood and dark steel of the Discovery Center, we introduced white as a backdrop for the content, both in the winding table and in the surrounding alcoves. A vibrant peach-orange color was used as an accent and a highlight throughout, in particular for quotes, to elevate diverse voices. In a nod to the gridded architecture of the Discovery Center, we established a modular system throughout the space for everything from the radial curves of the table (made the same width as the floor tiles), to the display system of square pedestals and captions along the table tops.

Dimensional “tabs” divide the winding table into content sections. The content is organized into a chronology, from conception to postpartum.

Studio Matthews

Portraits serve as a backdrop to the hundreds of artifacts. These help to humanize the items on display, and to put them into context.

Studio Matthews

Diverse voices and content are highlighted in personal quotes and stats throughout the space.

Studio Matthews

A “Motherhood by the Numbers” exhibit displays extensive data in digestible form.

Studio Matthews

The long exterior facade features an array of designed artifacts. The intent here is to invite in ALL audiences (not just mothers!), by emphasizing the ‘Design’ part of Designing Motherhood.

Studio Matthews

  1. In the central gallery over 200 objects are displayed, in combination with portraits and bold quotes.

    Studio Matthews

  2. An ‘umbilical table’ organizes eclectic yet powerful content into the chronological stages of pregnancy, to help guide the visitor.

    Studio Matthews

  3. Portraits serve as a backdrop to the hundreds of artifacts. These help to humanize the items on display, and to put them into context.

    Studio Matthews

  4. Diverse voices and content are highlighted in personal quotes and stats throughout the space.

    Studio Matthews

  5. A “Motherhood by the Numbers” exhibit displays extensive data in digestible form.

    Studio Matthews

Project Details
So much care and smart design, packed into every square inch of a single project. There is no law that says a designer has to relentlessly make every single part of their project well-designed. But this design team did it anyway, and the results show.
Juror 1
The subject matter is thoughtfully reflected and expertly executed, the exhibition has a strong and cohesive flow, information is well designed with consistent visual language.
Juror 2
Design Team

Kristine Matthews (principal designer)
Marta Bernstein (project design lead)
Jessica Cooper (designer)
Eli Kahn (designer)
Samantha Segar (project manager)

Collaborators

Dillon Works (fabrication)
Imagine Visual Services (fabrication)
Designing Motherhood team (curation)
Gates Foundation Discovery Center team (curation)
Jill Randerson (exhibition management)

Photo Credits

Eli Kahn

Open Date

February 2023

More in Exhibition

All Projects