Monty Python’s Flying Circus 50th Anniversary Museum Exhibition

Deliverables: Printed Book, App Prototype, WordPress Website, Instagram Animation, Advertising

Art Direction: Dermot MacCormack

I’ve always had what people call a “British sense of humour”, and loving Monty Python’s Flying Circus has always been a part of that. “Something Completely Different” is a museum exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of one of the hallmarks in television comedy.

I chose a bright primary color palette to match the idea of it being a circus and help keep things silly.

I used the fonts Rosewood and Playfair Display because they’re a mix of being reminiscent of the circus and a delicate serif for a funny contrast.

I designed this first. I came up with this idea of making weird “people” or “Monty Pythons” by mixing and matching heads, torsos, and legs of different things. The music used is from the show’s theme song.

I based the design of the book off what I did for the animation, by splitting the book into thirds (Cast, Show seasons, and Movies). As readers flip through the book they create a new “creature”. This way they’re not only reading the content, but engaging with it too!

The website is split into vertical thirds, and are given opportunities to virtually flip through the creature creations as they read about the exhibit.

The app is an arbitrary game (to promote the exhibit), which I felt is something the cast of Monty Python would appreciate. Users can make their own “Monty Python” by scrolling through the heads, torsos, and legs. I prototyped one possible path to take, but ideally this would be a real app with any option available.

I based the advertising off of the fact that the V&A is in London, so obviously I just had to stick an ad on the side of a double decker bus. I also created ads to go in the London Underground as well as imagined what possible wayfinding the exhibit could have.

It was an honor to make a Monty Python project. Two down, five to go!