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InspirationGraphic Design

Planning Unit's beautifully designed souvenir book for the Victoria and Albert Museum

Designing for a design-savvy audience must be a daunting task – as must designing for one of the world’s most famous design museums. Thankfully neither party could possibly be disappointed with the lovely folk over at London agency Planning Unit’s designs for the V&A’s souvenir book.

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Planning Unit's V&A souvenir book open on red background showing interior pages with artwork and architectural photography

“Our brief was to create a book that showcases the entire V&A representing the scale, breadth and soul of the museum,” the agency explains. “We developed the concept of celebrating the building, the collection history and archive through three core sections.”

These were a photographic insight into the building itself, an innovative look at the collection by “pairing seemingly unrelated items through word play, shape association or similarity of context” and a section called “the unseen,” which showed the gems of the museum that are hidden from the public in archives out of sight.

Planning Unit is based in east London, and boasts a client list including the BBC, Nike and D&AD.

Bright red souvenir book for the Victoria and Albert Museum with geometric patterning and white typography on its cover, photographed at an angle
Colourful spines of the V&A souvenir book designed by Planning Unit, arranged in a row showing alternating green, red, blue, yellow and orange covers with white text and V&A logos
Open V&A Museum souvenir book showing a stained glass window artwork with yellow, black and brown tones, alongside text about the South Kensington Museum's public restaurant
Planning Unit's V&A souvenir book open to pages showing a white textured circular object and a black decorative chicken with yellow feet, paired through visual association
Storage shelves displaying plaster cast busts of historical figures wrapped in protective webbing at the V&A Museum
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