What started as a fun social media idea has turned into something quite amazing.

A few months ago in the summer of 2025, I shared some pretend billboard designs celebrating Birmingham’s history, heritage and creativity; short, snappy one-liners that reminded people just how much this city has given the world. I’ve always felt Birmingham doesn’t shout loudly enough about its world-class manufacturing, its inventors, its innovators, and, of course, its incredible music.

The idea was simple: to celebrate Birmingham’s story in a sharp, playful way. Lines like “Birmingham: With the world’s oldest working engine, we’ve been letting off steam since 1779.” or “Birmingham: Bells, whistles, and anything else in between.” Each one a nod to the city’s proud legacy of making, thinking and creating.

I was blown away by the response online – thousands of shares, messages, and people saying, “We need these up around the city!”

Now, thanks to Birmingham Museums, those ideas have come to life. The billboards are up across the city – from New Street station to the Frankfurt Christmas Market, and even welcoming visitors at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.

To see something that started as a Photoshop file become part of the city’s streetscape is honestly surreal.

But this project means even more to me on a personal level, because Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery has been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember. As a teenager growing up in the city, I would spend hours wandering around its galleries, completely captivated by the scale and beauty of the place.

I vividly remember the first time I came across the work of John Salt, the Birmingham-born photorealist painter. His painstakingly detailed depictions of everyday scenes – the cars, the junkyards, the quiet poetry of the ordinary – stopped me in my tracks. I’d never seen anything like it. That moment opened my eyes to what art could be: not distant or abstract, but rooted in mundane and real life, in the colour and stories of the world around us.

From then on, I was hooked. Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery became a creative refuge, somewhere I’d go to feel inspired. It shaped my love of art and design and, looking back, it probably set me on the path I’m still walking today.

A short while later, when I was studying design at college in the early 1990s, we were set a branding brief – to choose a local organisation and reimagine its identity. Without hesitation, I picked Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. I spent weeks sketching logo ideas, experimenting with typography, and thinking about how to capture the character of this grand old building that had inspired me so deeply. That project wasn’t just another piece of coursework; it was my way of saying thank you to a place that had fuelled my creativity from the very start.

Fast forward to now, and to have my copywriting and design commissioned by Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery – helping to tell the story of my hometown and the city’s extraordinary collections – through their platforms – feels like everything has come full circle. From being the teenager staring up in awe at John Salt’s paintings to creating work that celebrates the same city and the same museum… it’s hard to put into words how special that feels.

For me, this campaign is about pride. It’s about reminding people that Birmingham isn’t just part of history; it made history. And it’s still doing it today.

Every poster, every line, every bold statement is a love letter to this city – its makers, its artists, its thinkers, and its doers. If these billboards make someone smile, stop for a second, and think, “That’s my city” – then they’ve done their job.

Because for me, they don’t just celebrate Birmingham’s brilliance. They tell my story too.

By Stacey Barnfield.