A new retail collection for Orkney Museum

A bespoke range of products, drawing on the museum’s most distinctive objects to bring new life, and new income, to the museum shop.

The challenge

Orkney Museum have a shop which had a small range of merchandise that hadn’t been updated for many years. They felt they weren’t making the most of this resource and there was an opportunity there to encourage purchase and generate more income for the museum.

They also had iconic items in their collection that weren’t being reflected in the existing shop items. There was nothing at all that represented the Ba’ game for example, a version of football played in Orkney since at least 1650, despite the museum holding a relatively extensive display on it.

The products needed to be portable and light to suit tourists, and attractive to appeal to a variety of tastes and colour preferences. And, of course, the Orkney Museum logo had to appear on each one.

Bone plaques with patterns from the Orkney Museum display

Decorated bone mounts from the Orkney Museum collection

The insight

Working from a list of desired products and photos of the collection, I researched which items and details would translate most effectively into pattern and print. Orkney Museum were particularly keen for me to use some bone plaques (see above) and a Pictish stone to help with the Scottish connection, and I found a brooch on their website with an unusual engraving that I thought could become a very distinctive pattern.

Equal-Armed Brooch found at the Scar Viking Boat Burial from the Orkney Museum collection

Pattern development for Orkney Museum shop products, taking the equal arm brooch as inspiration

Equal Arm brooch from the Orkney Museum collection

The execution

From these initial photos, I redrew symbols and created patterns that could be reused at any scale and on a variety of shapes and surfaces. Using colours from the existing Orkney Islands brand, I also created a guide to show different colour combinations to facilitate my client’s final colour choices.

Working closely with the printer, I developed artwork for tea towels, t-shirts, notebooks, mugs, bags, lens cloths, stickers and magnets. Careful consideration had to be taken of the print technique and budget restraints for each product – some could only be printed in single colour or spot colours, so the artwork needed to be adapted to accommodate this.

The results

Since launching, the range has driven a noticeable lift in engagement and sales. Visitors are spending longer browsing before they buy, and staff report the products consistently sell well from the shelf.

“The final merchandise have been so well received in the shop. Staff have praised the colour, design and how it makes the retail space more attractive and brighter.

Customers regularly comment on how lovely and different they are, and they’ve quickly become a real point of interest. We’ve definitely seen a positive impact on engagement and sales since launching them. I have enjoyed seeing customers try and decide between designs and end up buying both!

What we’re most proud of is how perfectly Ruth’s designs reflect the museum collection: they feel cohesive, high quality, and exactly right for our space.”

Ann Cockerton, Orkney Museum

A selection of the new products from Orkney Shop, including notebooks, mugs and tea-towels.

Interested in a bespoke range for your own shop?

Get in touch via my contact page or call 07798 820344 to talk through your collection and what’s possible.

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