Victory Live

Turning science into a playful museum adventure

The brief

Victory Live is part of the National Museum of the Royal Navy, which celebrates and preserves the Royal Navy’s past, present and future across multiple sites from Portsmouth Historic Dockyard to NMRN Hartlepool.

Following our work developing new visuals, straplines and a refreshed identity for Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, the Victory Live team invited us to create four character illustrations and a trail map for young visitors. The aim was to help children learn about the fungi that live on HMS Victory as part of the ship’s ongoing major repair campaign.

Four character illustrations from the victory live trail.

Our approach

Hover your mouse over the flip tiles below to learn more about the project.

Character development

We began by developing a moodboard to define a consistent illustration style. Each of the four characters was designed with two alter egos — one showing their natural form and another transformed by fungi.

Iconic stained glass windows from St Anne's College West window.

Hero vs villain

The characters needed to form a cohesive suite while still expressing their “good vs bad” identities. We brought this to life with playful details like capes and masks, giving each one a sense of personality and fun.

Laptop with one of the fungi illustrations on the screen

Sketch to screen

Starting with hand-drawn sketches, we refined each design in Illustrator, working within the Victory Live colour palette while introducing additional tones to make the fungi appear as realistic as possible.

The Fungus heroes and villains trail map including the illustrated characters for Victory Live.

Interactive trail design

We created an A4 double-sided trail packed with information and questions designed to engage children as they explored HMS Victory. The characters appeared throughout the ship on large printed displays, guiding young explorers on a hunt to uncover the good and bad fungi on board.

“We really enjoy working with the team at TGDH they are hardworking, enthusiastic and care very much about the work they produce for us. They work seamlessly with us, and we consider them to be very much an extension of our team.”

Rachael Brasier
Brand and Marketing Lead
National Museum of the Royal Navy

Results

The trail became an exciting, hands-on way for families to learn more about the ship’s conservation story. By combining creative storytelling with educational design, we helped Victory Live turn science into an adventure, sparking curiosity and inspiring the next generation of museum visitors.

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