Here are five classic rookie moves. (We’ve all been there. No judging.) 1. Overcrowding Displays: Trying to cram in too many artifacts, images, or text. 2. Missing Narrative Flow: Exhibitions without a clear story can be disjointed and confusing. …

Q: Digital can make anything! VR can take visitors inside ancient temples! Why do we even need real objects anymore? A: Digital is powerful, but it can't replicate the authenticity of a real artifact. They physically connect us to people and moments in the past. …

Q: Museum exhibitions are outdated! People can learn anything online for free! Why should we invest in exhibitions? A: Online’s great. But it can’t replicate the unique presence of a real artifact or artwork. It’s an experience you can’t get online. Ever. …

Are exhibitions an “industry?” Or a “discipline?” Hm. Maybe a “field?” Wait, how about a “profession?” This is a head-scratcher I’ve heard many times, and again just recently (a pattern that frequently triggers MtM articles). Let’s take a look. …

A solitary bench sits in front of a painting. Those few words already suggest the setting must be a museum. But that iconic, solitary bench has detractors. Some understandably say we need far more seating. Some call them an accessibility problem …

How do you make a museum display case disappear? Stéphanie Bilodeau, (Director, Sales and Business Development, Zone Display Cases in Québec City, Canada), joins MtM host Jonathan Alger to reveal the “Secrets of Museum Display Case Design.” …

There are two audience groups that exhibitions should almost never target. At one end of the spectrum: believers, who already get it. They will come regardless. At the other end: skeptics, who refuse to listen. Don’t aim at either. Aim between them. …

I don’t know why it happens. It’s a mystery. Nobody knows why. In every project, no matter how big, whether an exhibition, experience or something else, one thing is for sure. One part will resist having a design chosen until the bitter end. …

All of us at the table in our planning sessions have one thing in common. We’re not our visitors. But sometimes we act like the project is for us. “I know it’s an exhibit about ferns, but I just personally hate green. Can we see a grey option?” …

We all love good copy. But the text isn't why visitors come. Not what they look at. Not what they remember. An exhibition is not a book on a wall. Any visual medium — exhibitions, documentary films — should get developed visually. Visuals first, text later. …

In the real world, we expect a sound to naturally emanate from its source. The happy toot of a baby elephant emanates from a baby elephant. Not the sky, the ground, or a nearby fern. It should work the same in our exhibitions. …

Warning: indiscreet. May cause light-bulb moment and/or outrage, depending. Which of the following two methods is more common for representing costs, in major projects like museums and exhibitions? …

There is a counterintuitive audio engineering rule about how to make something louder. It sounds completely crazy. But it’s true. To dial something up — don’t dial it up. Dial everything else down. And this rule is especially true in physical spaces. …

This is going to be special. And short. Yay! Happy Birthday, Making the Museum, the Newsletter! You just turned two! It seems like just yesterday, 386 episodes ago, when you sent out your very first email: “Wow, Who Designed That?” You wrote poetry … twice! …

Lighting exhibitions of light-sensitive artifacts is really hard. We often do it wrong — and end up with dimly lit beige objects, on dim beige fabric panels, in dim beige rooms. Artifacts still have to pop, even though almost no light is allowed on them. …

(Part 1 of this two-parter got a lot of fan mail. Why? Hit “reply” and tell me what you think.) Here are the final five, including shockers.
Myth #6: Artifacts have to be real. Fact: Good facsimiles are fine. Build the reason for the replica into the story. …

Artifacts — real, unique things — are the heart of many exhibitions. Yet many myths persist about how to use them. Here are the 10 that I hear the most. #1: You need a lot of artifacts. Fact: A few will do. Ten you'll remember is better than 100 you'll forget.

Ironically, that rare book, that Gutenberg Bible you have on display … nobody can read it. It is beige. Dimly lit. Written in a dead language. Behind glass at an angle. And even if were about Taylor Swift … visitors don’t come to read. So what do we do? …

Can a building tell a story? Can a glass wall become … mist? Alan Reed, FAIA, LEED AP (President and Design Principal of GWWO Architects), joins MtM host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners) to discuss “Story-Based Design.” …

Sometimes our idea is a bad idea. But every once in a while, it’s a good idea, waiting for a better name. The Patagonian Toothfish was a deep-sea species from the Southern Hemisphere that nobody wanted to eat. Until one day, it got a new name. …