Taking Women's Football from Pitch Side to Centre Stage
The Challenge
From the feminist players of 1895 and the war worker footballers of the First World War to the defiant players who have changed the Football Association from within. Brighton Museum & Art Gallery’s ‘Goal Power! Women in Football’ exhibition was created to celebrate the women who have paved the way on and off the pitch. By shining a light on stories of resistance, perseverance, and above all a love for football that defies boundaries, the exhibition exists to celebrate the immense ground covered, harness the driving force pushing the game forward and ultimately inspire action that will keep the momentum of change going for future generations to come.
As 2022 sees the biggest participation figures in women’s football ever, Brighton Museum & Art Gallery is unveiling a summer-long exhibition to share the history of the pioneers who shaped the game into what it is today. ‘Goal Power! Women’s Football 1894-2022’, opening on 18th June 2022, was created to celebrate the people who have paved the way for female football, on and off the pitch.
With funding from Arts Council England, Lottery Heritage Fund, Inspired by England 2022, as well as Brighton & Hove Council the exhibition exists to celebrate progression and inspire action that will keep the momentum of change going for future generations to come.
To bring the exhibition to life, the Royal Pavilion and Museums Trust sought the help of UnitedUs - a strategic branding agency based in Brighton, whose clients include Annie Lennox’s global feminist NGO, The Circle and rugby union team, London Irish. Building on their success creating identities and brand campaigns around feminism and sport, this was a collaborative partnership that was created on home turf in East Sussex.
The Results
Inspired by the incredible stories on show and the opportunities that lie ahead for women’s football, the visual identity fuses a sense of the professionalism, pace and culture seen across football design today with a juxtaposed use of the historic images and more homespun traits, echoing the positioning of the women's game. Using the springboard of ‘Power in Play’ UnitedUs created a visual identity based on momentum, progression and empowerment, with vibrant colours and bold energetic typography nodding to the football ephemera from yesteryear – giving the icons of this exhibit a sense of the legacy they well deserve.
In an exhibition that bought together the full spectrum of female sportsmanship – be that their backgrounds, stories or opposing perspectives – the visual identity needed to feel ownable for everyone and anyone, aligning with both the diversity of players represented or the future advocates it aimed to engage and inspire. As such, the creative had to cheer rather than shout, so that no individual voice overpowered another. Through the player cards visualisation, UnitedUs wanted visitors to the exhibition to feel moved to champion women's football by creating this desire for something that is collectable, and so readily available in the men's game.
By bringing this new lens to the incredible stories curated and crafted by the Goal Power! team the exhibition identity aims to show the inequality of the past but also the opportunities that lie ahead in one of the fastest-growing sports in the world. In doing so, everyone involved hopes the subjects of the Goal Power! exhibition can finally be seen and appreciated as the trailblazers that they are.
Find Out More
https://brightonmuseums.org.uk/brighton/exhibitions-displays/goal-power-womens-football-1894-2022/
