The designs that Signs Express (Sheffield) had to work with were based on the Chinese tangram, which is a traditional puzzle consisting of flat shapes which are put together to form shapes. The resulting geometric designs that have been installed at the hospital provide a colourful distraction to the surroundings.
The artwork was devised by designing company Thomas Matthews and now lines the theatre’s corridors and treatment rooms as a distraction for children during the anxious moments before they are anaesthetised. Using the tangram theme, the artwork builds scenes with tessellating shapes that break away to reveal animals, plants and buildings to create a whole new world in the corridors of the Hospital.
Carol and Steve Morris, co-owners of Signs Express (Sheffield) won an award at last years’ BSGA (British Signs and Graphics Association) awards for a previous project at the Children’s Hospital that was commissioned by Artfelt. Steve Morris commented on their strengthening relationship with the programme, “We love working with Artfelt, as it gives us the opportunity to collaborate with local artists and designers in order to create signage that will really make a difference.”
Thanks to the designers and the staff at Signs Express (Sheffield) shapes also dance along the ceiling of the double height corridor in the form of a Perspex mobile which leads to a life-saving £2.3m 3T MRI scanner, funded by The Children’s Hospital Charity. The mobile was designed to make the most of a large space with a lot of natural light; the coloured, transparent shapes create patterns of rockets that move in and out of sight as patients walk below. The work culminates with a focal light box in the ceiling of each new anaesthetic room, which can be used by staff to encourage children over the daunting threshold.
Artfelt, funded by The Children’s Hospital Charity, who exist to brighten the hospital’s walls with art, commissioned the work. Artfelt’s Manager, Cat Powell stated, “Our focus was to create something that would not only complement the state-of-the-art new theatre suites, but would flow consistently between the old and new parts of the department. Patients range from aged 0 to 16 years, so it was important any scheme acted on multiple levels. It needed to be an aesthetically pleasing uplifting piece, providing tools for improvisation and dialogue, but without being patronising to older patients.”
European Sign Federation