YOU MIGHT expect museums and galleries to be great patrons of design, placed as they are at the hub of the cultural arena. Many have won creative awards in the past and several national institutions are listed here in Design Week's Hall of Fame. The National Gallery is no exception. It has been in the public eye for more than its impressive art collection since the 'monstrous carbuncle' incident of 1984 when, addressing architectural dignitaries at a Royal Institute of British Architects event at Hampton Court Palace, Prince Charles used the phrase to describe a competitionwinning scheme by eminent architect Ahrends Burton & Koralek for its Sainsbury Wing that he didn't like personally. The upshot was a competition rethink and a commission to US architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown to create the building now at the top of the square. Like most museums, the National Gallery has shops - in this instance, created by 20/20 - and reasonably imaginative merchandise. But in terms of design it is graphics in which it excels - or at least what the design world recognises it for beyond its collection of paintings, drawings and sculptures. The distinctive red identity, created by The Partners, won a Design Week Award in 2006, among other accolades. It breaks the mould for art establishments in that it focuses on the message rather than the art. An elegant typographic treatment is applied to emotive words than express what the art might portray or the response the viewer may have to the works. It is about storytelling and has been applied skilfully to everything from posters to carrier bags. Building on the partnership with The Partners, the National Gallery's latest tourde- force, quite literally, has been The Grand Tour. This initiative brought art to the streets, with a series of exquisite prints created with Hewlett-Packard of 44 priceless pieces from the collection displayed life-sized around the West End of London. People were invited to download maps and take the tour. The project admirably fulfils the National Gallery's commitment to taking art out of the gallery. It has since gone on tour to York, a venture in line with the gallery's programme of collaborations with arts bodies outside of the capital. The project, which also features a website by London interaction consultancy Digit, won a coveted Black Pencil in the D&AD Awards in 2008. The great distinction between The Grand Tour's success at D&AD and that of previous design winners was that its win was in an advertising category - which is no mean feat.