Case Study | Laudato Sie exhibit

How it began

In 2014, the Associazione Culturale Antiquae and the Italian Academy Foundation worked with the Sacred Convent of Assisi on an exhibit in New York City. The subject was Franciscan manuscripts and papers, never before seen in the US. In 2022, the St Francis Day Foundation together with Pope Francis, decided to create an even bigger show, centered around the precious volume, The Canticle of Brother Sun, which contains the line “laudato sie”. Pope Francis has used this line in a title of an important cyclical on the value of nature. The show Laudato si; nature and science was born. The Italian Academy Foundation, again a collaborative sponsor, along with Antiquae, a producer, called upon the Rome Design Agency to bring the exhibit to life in Italy.

What the agency did 

The Rome Design Agency provided the entire graphic and visual branding for the exhibition, building off of the intricacy of the manuscripts being displayed. The show logo was produced through the vectorization and digitization of an “F” found in an original manuscript. The Agency determined the show’s “key image” – an alchemical mandala that shows the synthesis of all the elements, and this appears in the background of advertising and signage around the City of Rome.

Working with the architect (1AX) and the show builders (Exibis), as well as the multimedia developers (CapWare), Rome Design Agency established the need for graphic elements throughout the show in the form of panels and descriptive texts punctuated by color. The palette was derived from the manuscripts, and was part of the branding kit designed by the Agency. The graphic panels in the show have a distinctive role: to enhance the understanding of the manuscripts and bring a visual dynamism to the show’s “landscape”, imagined by the architect in natural fibers and wood, in the spirit of the Franciscan order. The graphics would not distract or impose, but underline.

Included in the descriptive panels are QR codes, which lead to an audio guide and website in alternate languages – all created and designed by the Agency. The social media feeds and content, website and online shop for the exhibition are all part of the Agency’s design.

The show also features a catalog (Electa) and branded artistic merchandise. The Agency designed these products, and collaborated with Electa on the catalog’s art direction.

The Result

The Laudato sie project culminated in a multidimensional array of graphic development, from the logo, advertising and signage, to the exhibition panels and displays, to digital marketing design, to product design. Laudato Sie is showing at Palazzo Braschi, Museo di Roma, from October 2, 2024 to January 6, 2025. Then it moves to Sacred Convent of Assisi from April 7 to October 2025.

Website: laudatosie.com| Instagram: @francismanuscripts |  Facebook: @francismanuscripts