On the Bench

‘On the Bench’ exhibition is all about game-changing stories of sport and injury, inviting you behind the curtain and on to the treatment table to hear their injury stories. Further exploring what happens when players get injured and who helps them recover.

Working closely with the Thackray Museum of Medicine team we created an interactive and vibrant family friendly exhibition that launched over the summer of 2023. 

Curated in partnerships with Leeds sporting superstars, the exhibition delved into the personal stories of three local sports players, Stevie Ward (ex-captain of Leeds Rhinos), Norman Francis (ex-basketball player and coach of the Mandela Warriors in Chapel Town) and Vicky Bussey (Leeds Roller Derby Club). 

The exhibition had a family target audience and in the design decisions were conscious of wanting to create a positive message of resilience and recovery. We developed a vibrant colour palette and created a range of illustrations and patterns inspired by markings from each sport, which we then developed into floor vinyls, locker stickers and even plasters that featured on the lead marketing visuals. 

As the exhibition took place in single room, we created faux walls and hanging banners to create room dividers to guide the visitors around the space and various activities. These banners also provided large canvases to inject more colour and pattern into the space.

We specified a recycled mesh material for banners, mimicking the mesh of a basketball jersey.

We wanted every aspect of the 3D and interpretation design to feel thematic and immerse visitors in the world of sport. Using lockers as object cases, treatment clipboards as customisable interpretation panels and custom designed team scarves.

The interactive elements of the exhibition begin as soon as you enter the room, from the Start lines leading to functional lockers, to the ‘let’s get physio’ health check station. Allowing the visitors to design, build and test their own sports injury treatments and make colourful collage casts and slings.

Using astroturf and grid wall to create a customisable feedback wall and space for the exhibition to change and grow over its run.