Sexual Health and Reproductive Education Exhibition

SHARE Exhibit Case Study

Cristen Post

Published in

TylerGAID

7 min readApr 19, 2021

3D SHARE sculpture at the beginning of the SHARE exhibition

SHARE is a proposed pop-up sex-ed exhibition in partnership with Planned Parenthood. The brand is colorful, bold, and the content is focused on inclusivity and breaking stigmas. Led by instructor Kelly Holohan, the brand deliverables include a logo, exhibition design, social media campaign, print materials, and merchandise.

The Exhibit

Problem: Since sex education is up to individual states, young people often receive sex education that lacks vital information, teaches disinformation, and creates a shameful culture around sex/reproductive education.

The Idea: SHARE exhibition would break down sex stigmas, teach accurate sex education (including LGBTQ+), dating violence education, and provide resources in a fun way for visitors.

The pop-up exhibition is proposed to first start at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

Proposed Franklin Institute website and SHARE banner

Process

The process began with research on sex-ed in U.S. schools. Due to the staggering amount of data on how lacking sexual education is in the school system, the idea of a sexual health and reproductive education exhibition “solution” was created. The decision to take the school system out of the picture led to a brand message that wasn’t inundated with public education’s red-tape.

Once the idea of the pop-up was created, lists were created of everything relating to sex-ed and what should be taught in schools. Some of the final keywords that guided the brand design were: inclusive, fun, and educational.

Mood Boards and Style Tiles

The mood boards are a representation of how the brand was envisioned. To gain a better understanding, research was done on competitors and other museums/exhibits/pop-ups including examples of infographics that fit the brand identity. The first mood board guided the beginning creation of the brand colors, typography, and use of shape.

Branding and infographic inspiration, and similiar organizations

The brand identity makes use of supergraphics (large-scaled decorative art in bold colors and typically in geometric or typographic designs), bright and fresh colors, and a clean typeface with a little bit of flair

Naming

The lists and brain mapping completed at the beginning of the project helped to finalize a name. An acronym that also made a word and incorporated what the exhibit was all about made sense and encompassed the idea of disseminating knowledge. SHARE stands for sexual health and reproductive education, and the word share is a part of the mission. The word share is open-ended, welcoming, and supportive.

SHARE your… experience, advice, story, truth, success

Logo: There were many ideas for the logo involving arrows and x’s, but they didn’t feel right. There were many iterations, but the chosen approach ended up with a type solution that incorporates a different type font for each letter, as well as a mix of lowercase and capitals. This choice ties back to the brand message: SHARE’s education is inclusive and fun, and each letter is unique because so are people. The logo can be simple, black and white, or multiple colors with a dark background.

The final logo uses lower and uppercase letters. The fonts used from left to right include Degular Text regular, Lust Script regular, Rochester Pro, BN Recon Grotesk, and Jeanne Moderno OT roman.

Each font was carefully selected to include a mixture of widths and styles to fit the brand’s mood.

Process: Before the acronym SHARE was created, some ideas and sketches included x and + signs and a list of possible names. The final logo started with the idea of mixing typefaces (seen as circled), which led to extensive exploration with other fonts, styles, widths, and caps.

Exhibition Design

The proposed exhibit encompasses six sections: the main entrance, anatomy & puberty, consent & safety, reproductive rights & prevention, pleasure & sex, and finally a gift shop near the exit. The bright colors, and supergraphics are used not only to keep viewers interested, but to encourage photo opportunites that could make the exhibit a viral experience.

All the information used for the walls came from Planned Parenthood, Guttmacher, and academic journals to ensure accurate and informed facts.

Upon entrance, each guest would receive a few tear-off wallet sized cards with resources to use and share with others.

Entrance: The entrance includes the sculpture of the SHARE logo (a perfect spot for a photo-op), patterned walls, and an introduction to the exhibition.

Reproductive Rights & Prevention: This section includes information on abortion, including laws in the U.S., and an exhaustive list with forms of birth control.

Reproductive & Pregnancy Prevention section of the exhibition

Pleasure & Sex: This room is focused on dismantling sex stigmas and myths by bringing uncomfortable sex topics to the viewer in a fun and playful way. It also has another photo opportunity with a cheeky wall that features taboo sex-related words.

Pleasure & Sex section of the exhibition

Close-up of the sticky-note wall with a zoomed out view

Social Media Campaign

The Instagram campaign is a promotional tool for the pop-up exhibit; however, it can stand alone. The posts are focused on sharing all kinds of information related to SHARE. The two developed posts are on abortion facts and sex-positive info. The account also includes an interactive story that would be highlighted on the profile.

Screen grabs of the SHARE exhibit Instagram

Merchandise

The following are some examples of merchandise that would be sold at the educational exhibition, including a tote bag and t-shirt. The purchase of these items would help fund the exhibition and serve as free promotion to a wider audience.

Overview

The goal was to create an inclusive and fun experience for anyone who visits the SHARE exhibit. Keeping the mission at the forefront, this concept seeks to create a new kind of sex education that focuses on inclusivity, science, and un-learning harmful and shaming information in an exciting way. The SHARE pop-up exhibit’s goal would be to travel across the country, grow its impact, and create a nationwide discussion on teaching better sex-ed.

View all the flat images for the exhibition walls

View all the flat images for the Instagram