The Goldstein Museum of Design At Home

Soo Jin Kang (Graphic Design), Caren Oberg (Apparel Studies), and Carmi Bobwealth Omontese (Retail Merchandising) are working with GMD staff to create and share a weekly series of object-based games, exhibition tours, and museum activities through social media and the GMD website.

Our social media team created a number of ways for you to enjoy design (and interact with design) from the comfort of home. If you are surprised to learn that GMD’s collection contains over 35,000 objects, activities on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram will introduce you to a number of them. Original campaigns include fabulous apparel for #fashioninthetimeofzoom, a detail challenge with #whatisitwednesday, and the ever-popular designer birthdays.

We are also introducing GMD followers to some of the best social media activities developed by other design museums (we flipped over V&A Museum’s Design a Wig!). We are collaborating with museums statewide and nationally by sharing flowers for #MuseumsBouquet, alphabet references for #mnmuseumalphabet, health-related collection items for #museumsthankhealthheroes, and a pause for beauty in #museummomentofzen

You can get involved with the collection through the interactive Object Stories: Audience Voices. To tell your design story:

1. Search the Collection and select an object that is interesting (or puzzling, or weird, or beautiful).
2. Fill out the basic details about the object.
3. Write a short description of why you think the object is interesting (or puzzling, or weird, or beautiful).
4. Hit submit!
5. GMD staff will review all submissions to post on the website and social media, so take your time in writing. Object stories are intended to be personal reflections, not scholarly reports (“This dress is really cute. The double belts are interesting and I wonder if all the dresses in the 1950s used double belts” rather than “Claire McCardell was an American fashion designer of ready-to-wear clothing in the twentieth century.” – Wikipedia)

In addition to social media, a wide range of additional features added to the GMD website has transformed it from informative to interactive.

Keeping kids busy or need some meditative experiences after a day of Zoom? Printable coloring pages feature collection objects under the new Learning page’s Activities. The line art images are based on photographs on the collection database. See if you like your color better than the original!

Web visitors can now take a walk through time and graphic design with the Join & Give page’s new link to over 12 years of GMD members’ magazines and newsletters. See how GMD’s graduate student graphic designers have influenced the design of this important member communication and how the collection photograph project transformed its appearance. Although the exhibition and program dates are now incorrect, check out the photos and stories in the Spring 2020 members’ magazine.

Finally, while our galleries are closed, GMD has hosted over 400 exhibitions since it opened in 1976 and many of these are profiled on Previous Exhibitions. Miss an exhibition that you wanted to see? This is your opportunity to browse through exhibitions and explore the wide range of design topics covered by GMD exhibitions. Narrated virtual reality tours allow you to visit two recent exhibitions as though you were there.

Like many museums that are closed to help flatten the COVID-19 curve, GMD has pivoted from in-person exhibitions and object-based learning to a wide range of digital engagement. Thanks to the graduate students and GMD staff, this is a lively environment.

Let us know about your experience!

Lin Nelson-Mayson, GMD Director

Want to share with us on social? Use the following hashtags: #gmdproud #umnproud #umndesign #museumfromhome #GMDcurrentexhibition #golsteinmuseumofdesign