Background: Discover South Kensington brings together leading cultural and educational organisations and is the home of science, arts and inspiration. This is one of the world’s most popular cultural destinations and home to an extraordinary cluster of world-leading organisations pioneering innovation and learning in science and the arts. Here we generate and share knowledge and inspire the engineers, designers, scientists, musicians and artists of the future and together we welcome over 20 million visitors each year.
South Kensington is where ideas come to life. Globally significant research and innovation in science, technology, design, engineering and music is happening right here. Our museums, galleries, concert halls and cultural venues present an incredible programme of exhibitions, displays, performances, film screening, talks and events every day.
Affectionately known as ‘Albertopolis’, the area was founded from the profits of the Great Exhibition of 1851 to fulfil Prince Albert’s vision of “extending the influence of science and art upon the productive on industry.” The world’s first planned cultural quarter, South Kensington is thriving today and continues to shape our understanding of the world.
Discover South Kensington is an initiative of the Exhibition Road Cultural Group. Our members include Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Imperial College London, Goethe-Institut, Institut franÒ«ais, the Ismaili Centre, Kensington Palace, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Royal College of Music, Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), Serpentine Galleries, Ognisko Polskie, The Royal Parks, the Design Museum, and Christie’s South Kensington.
Discovery is at the core of what happens here and there is so much to explore every day. www.discoversouthken.com
Objective:
Part of our communication priorities include:
South Kensington is a ‘must-experience’ destination for international visitors on their first visit to London. We want to encourage visitors to have greater awareness of what happens in South Kensington, visiting more than one venue or returning again to visit another.
Promoting what happens here to visitors, staff, students and residents – encouraging people to discover more of what is on offer here
One of our objectives is to create a simple, call-to-action postcard which encourages people to visit our website as the ‘one stop shop’ for events in South Kensington and to follow us on Twitter and Instagram for daily event updates.
No one photograph can capture the buildings, history, research and events that happen here which is why we are looking to commission an illustration to reflect the area.
Last year we commissioned a montage which was used on a postcard, our website, Twitter and our leaflet. The postcard has been distributed to our partners, student events, local libraries, local hotels, alumni teams etc. They are being used to drive traffic to the website.
We want to create a new and different image each year which we can use as series of beautiful postcards (as well as used elsewhere) that reflect the many activities that happen in South Kensington.
Requirement: Art work for a standard landscape postcard. The image will also be used on other mediums such as a leaflet and online. We were able to use the landscape image last year on our digital platforms but we could consider different sizes for different platforms. The format needs to be JPEG.
Our brand personality: world-class, inspirational, innovative, creative, collaborative, knowledge-generators, serious fun.
Target audience: Visitors (international and domestic) and students, particularly those who have just arrived to study in the area.
The Brief: last year commissioned a montage of photos that represent South Kensington as the home of science, arts and inspiration but we are keen to create a very different image this year to represent South Kensington. We are open to mediums used, although the image needs to work both on printed material and online. We want to create a colourful image of South Kensington again this year which reflects the variety of events and venues for visitors to experience in the area. The events and venues should reflect our list of member organisations.
Budget: Our budget is circa £1500 to include copyright on printed materials (including poster, postcards and leaflets) and digital (website and social media platforms).
Next steps: We are looking to start the project in spring/early summer. Please get in touch with sarahb@exhibitionroad.com to register your interest and include examples of your work and a brief outline to describe how you would reflect South Kensington visually.
