You almost certainly know about immersive art, the for-profit leisure-time trend that has been influencing the museum projects for a few years now. But that’s not the only thing out there. Allow me to introduce the “-tainments” …

One in four people has a disability. Why aren’t we designing museums better for them? Sina Bahram & Corey Timpson from Prime Access Consulting join Jonathan to discuss “Inclusive Design Will Change the World.”

Many tech trends in the museum world disappear as fast as they came. (Come baaaaack, spin browser!) But there is one I swore was going to die an early death years ago … and it never did. How did touch tables never die? …

Behold, the trippy art spa. You might not know it by that name. But keep an eye out for one opening near you. It’s a kind of immersive art venue on steroids. Giant room with projections covering walls and floor? That’s just step one. …

In any complex organization, especially a non-profit, decision-making is complex. Planners and designers need to give committees choices. Usually, creative contracts call for “three options.” But in our studio, we find three is not enough. …

Wait, what’s digital signage again? It’s the site-based screen media we use for promotion — as opposed to the media we use for edutaining visitors. There is one huge mistake everybody makes with digital signage. Want to avoid it? Just remember this …

For the finale, do museums get equal amounts of each type? And does it vary by kind of museum? Here’s the lowdown. History museums, science centers, and natural history museums share a similar list, if you rank visitor types from most to least. …

Museum researcher John Falk’s “Five Visitor Identity Types” framework first appeared in his 2012 book, “Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience.” Today, many of us know his framework by name. Here are Falk’s five: …

We’re all involved in exhibitions all the time. But sometimes we’re so focused, we don’t always think about why all our visitors really visit. Imagine how better informed our work would be — if we did. Let’s dig into it. For Part 1, let’s get all the reasons out there:

Visiting an exhibition is like visiting a city. Both need a mix of two things: Matching systems - elements that are always the same. And unique one-offs - elements that are never the same. Street signs, stoplights and bus stops need to match. And if they don’t …

There is a song we sometimes sing in our exhibition and experience projects: We’re poor. Our budgets don’t have the money those “other” industries have. We’re the ones who have to do a lot with a little. But is it true? …

Sitting at a corner table are MONIQUE, exhibition developer wise beyond her years, and PHIL, anxious independent museum consultant. PHIL: This coffee is terrible. No wonder it was so cheap and fast. MONIQUE: Iron Triangle, baby. [Sips matcha] …

In a classic MtM podcast on “How to Build a Museum,” architect David Greenbaum called out “esprit de corps” as a must-have for every museum project team. It is the unity, loyalty, and camaraderie among team members. …

Is there a better way to collaborate? Emily Saich and Joey Noelle Scott from the Monterey Bay Aquarium discuss their new book “A Collaborative Approach to Exhibition Making” with host Jonathan Alger from C&G Partners. …

Concerts have silences between songs. Book chapters have blank spaces at the end. In this email, there is an empty line after each idea. Respites don’t just appear because one bit is over. It’s deliberate. They establish rhythm and refocus us. …

The most basic form of exhibition planning and design is probably the simple act of framing something. And if you are framing something under glass, you will likely use a mat. Or matt. Or matte. Or mat board. Or matte board. Or mount (in the UK). …

Exhibition and experience projects usually follow what economists call a “smiling curve” of effort. That’s a curve shaped like a smile — basically a wide “u”. It maps effort over time: it starts high, smooths out, then gets high again at the end. …

Visitors don’t expect to find raw, unfinished building materials like chain link fencing, raw plywood, or unpainted concrete blocks in an exhibition. So when we use them raw to construct exhibitions, they can create memorable emotional impact. …

Ideally, the most important takeaway of any interactive should get communicated even if visitors haven’t interacted yet. Yes, that sounded crazy. But stay with me. Question: What is the one thing every interactive exhibition element must do? …

Here’s a question I like to ask occasionally, to see if this definition changes over time. Do all exhibitions “tell a story with things”? The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) thinks so. But what do you think? …