Fuzzy little words get projects in trouble. Saying “you are responsible for the script” is like saying “you are responsible for the building”. Yeah? Which part? Designing it? Building it? Maintaining it? Down with fuzzy little words. ...

Chronology is a common exhibition structure. But there are more twists on it than you think. Here are five ways to organize chronologically, starting with linear: events exhibited in the order they occurred. Maybe a flashback or two for clarity. Next ...

Religion. Politics. Gender. Discuss. Controversial topics are part of the museum mission. And they attract public interest. But divisive themes can also cause bad PR, and jeopardize the mission. How can an exhibition court controversy with less risk? …

L is for Location. Organizing content by location is a common approach in exhibitions. An ancient art show organized by region, a hall of fame organized by state, a World’s Fair organized by country. But that’s just the start. Here are seven more. …

It’s the one-year anniversary of one of the highest-traffic posts in the archive: The Fork. Here it is. + + + + +. A curator pulls a key from her cardigan to unlock a dark, quiet storage room. She walks to drawer F138, opens it, and sees … a fork. Or does she? …

“Cost per square foot” is a useful ratio. Likewise “occupants per square foot” and “sales per square foot”. What other “per square foots” could be useful? Here’s one: “words per square foot”. Say we have 50 paintings in a 50 x 50 room (2,500 SF). Now let’s write labels …

Why have a strong organizing principle for my exhibition? Don’t visitors just go wherever they want? Yep. And that’s exactly why you need a strong organizing principle. Because whatever principle you use, no visitor will follow it like a duty. …

Can you invent a genre? For sure. But inventing one from scratch is rare. Treasures of Tutankhamun was the first blockbuster. Ateliers des Lumières pioneered immersive projection. Meow Wolf was the first … Meow Wolf. But for each success, a hundred others lost their bet. …

Remember the “Lone Ranger” remake years ago? Johnny Depp played Tonto. You might not. It flopped. The audience expected a classic western, but got a comedy-action movie, and that disappointed them. For exhibitions, genre expectations are critical. For example: …

It’s genre week! I’m excited. We’ll explore what genre means, how to work with genre expectations, and even how to invent a new one. First, what is it? A genre is a category of art, literature or music where all works share characteristics. Imagine bookstore sections …

What’s the role of wonder in experience design? Can we really design for all five senses? Jennifer Lemmer Posey (Curator of Circus at The Ringling) joins host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners) to teach some “Circus Lessons for Museum Professionals”. …

Morning, Bob. [Morning.] Got the content hose? [Yep.] Good. Which gallery are we doing? [Roman.] I think I did half of that yesterday. It’s a blur, right? [Yep.] OK, here we go. Look, that wall is totally empty. Let ‘er rip. [Right.] Whoa, that new hose is something. …

An encyclopedic museum displays every subject in a field. And there are also encyclopedic exhibitions, which display every object in a category. And then there is the third cousin of this family: the encyclopedia exhibition (note the one-letter difference). …

What is the “humanities gap” — and why is it a huge opportunity for museums? Why can’t everybody be a philanthropist for the day? Michele Y. Smith (CEO, Museum of Popular Culture) joins host Jonathan Alger to talk about “A Guitar That Teaches Civil Rights”. …

Welcome to the trippy art spa. You might not know the name. But you know the formula. It’s a subgenre of immersive art that combines multiple trends into one night out. Giant room with projections covering walls and floor,? Check. ..

Richard Saul Wurman, co-founder of TED, popularized LATCH in the 90s. Essentially, you can organize any information by Location, Alphabet, Time, Category, or Hierarchy. You can find LATCH everywhere. In fact, exceptions are rare. …

[NEW PODCAST] What’s the secret to success, when a project lasts years longer than planned? How does the subject matter of a project relate to its form? Which is more important: patience, or pushing? (Hint: it’s a trick question.) Give it a listen! …

My new acquaintance K.C. and I were watching a conference talk. She runs a museum. When a slide defined “TL;DR” for the audience (“Too Long, Didn’t Read”) she whispered to me, “That’s what all our exhibits are.” Heh. She’s right. And our visitors don’t come to read. …

Concerts have silences between songs. Book chapters have blank spaces at the end. In this email, there is an empty line after each idea. But in our exhibitions, sometimes we let stuff fill up every surface, like we gotta hose down the place with content …

Keepers of important collections and facts want to show as many as possible to the public. Which means never repeating things. But you can repeat a digital image, a word, or an idea as often as you like. Why would you? Because visitors need it. …