LATCH: Five Ways to Organize Exhibitions

One of the most discussed articles at MtM, back by popular demand after more than a year.

A. Whenever possible, use a unique organizing principle. It creates a unique exhibition automatically.

B. For all other times, there is LATCH.

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 (see A., above).

Location
By where. Regions of ancient world, orbital distance from sun, height in rainforest canopy.

Alphabet
In alpha (or numeric) order when there is a lot of data. Native words used in English, baseball uniforms by jersey number, inductees to hall of fame.

Time
By chronology. Life work of artist, century of mops, timeline of New Jersey authors.

Category
By similarity. Skeletons by phylum, sculptors by medium, musicians by instrument.

Hierarchy (aka Continuum)
Along a common measure. Birds small to large, rockets by short range to long, songs by weeks at #1.

Here’s the thing:
Organizing principles get chosen early, and they are important. But there are more options than you think. And you can't go far wrong with LATCH.

Warmly,
Jonathan