The Hunterian Museum is one of London’s most treasured small museums. Closed for five years, it reopened in 2023 at the Royal College of Surgeons, completely reimagined.

The museum houses the specimen collection of the 18th century surgeon anatomist John Hunter and celebrates the art and science of surgery from ancient times to the present day.

As part of a multi-disciplinary design team lead by Casson Mann, DPM were responsible for the museum’s graphic identity, the exhibition interpretation system and art-direction of the digital interactives.

A bespoke typeface, created with typographer Dave Farey, ‘Hunter Caslon’ was informed by original Caslon specimens held at St Bride’s Type Library, London. Typefounder William Caslon was a contemporary of John Hunter’s and Hunter used his typefaces in several publications.

The graphic interpretation system references the forms and materials of surgical instruments and how they developed over time. Faceted, knurled and polished chrome details adorn the armatures holding object labels and text panels in place. A flexible system was devised to individually label and interpret Hunter’s specimen collection of over 2,000 anatomical specimen jars held in the Long Gallery.