Design of Exhibitions

8/19/2019 Design of Exhibitions

1/12

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found athttp://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=

Download by: [RMIT University Library] Date: 16 March 2016, At: 13:35

Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, ThirdEdition

ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/book/10.1081/E-ELIS3

Exhibition Design

Lee H. Skolnick , Dan Marwit , Jo Ann Secor

To cite this entry: Lee H. Skolnick , Dan Marwit , Jo Ann Secor . Exhibition Design. InEncyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, Third Edition. Taylor and Francis: New York,

Published online: 09 Dec 2009; 1797-1807.

To link to this chapter: http://dx.doi.org/10.1081/E-ELIS3-120044031

Published online: 09 Dec 2009

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 137

View related articles

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/mlt/10.1081/E-ELIS3-120044031http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/mlt/10.1081/E-ELIS3-120044031http://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=&page=instructionshttp://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=&page=instructionshttp://dx.doi.org/10.1081/E-ELIS3-120044031http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/book/10.1081/E-ELIS3http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=


2/12

Exhibition Design

Lee H. SkolnickDan MarwitJo Ann SecorLee H. Skolnick Architecture þ Design Partnership, New York, New York, U.S.A.

Abstract

Exhibition design, sometimes called exhibit design, is the conceptualizing, planning, and creating of

exhibitions—built, spatial environments that communicate with audiences moving through them. As a

field of practice, exhibition design has only recently begun gaining definition and standards. Meanwhile, it

is flourishing worldwide, as exposition attendance soars, retail environments reinvent themselves, and

cultural institutions increasingly appeal to tourism and promote themselves as centers of entertainment, as

well as education. Bringing together a constellation of disciplines, exhibitions are designed by teams

working through a phased process that translates a script into an immersive experience. Audiences

engaging with the experiences interpret them through interactions with their elements, including their

architecture, colors, lighting, graphics, artifacts, and media. Design teams continually develop under-

standings of their audiences as they plan and arrange exhibitions’ elements in context. As exhibition

design expands in the beginning of the twenty-first century, it turns up new challenges, but as with all

design fields, exhibition design views challenges as opportunities.

INTRODUCTION

Exhibition design, sometimes called exhibit design, is the

conceptualizing, planning, and creating of exhibitions—

built, spatial environments that communicate with audiences

moving through them. Broadly, any exhibition can be cate-

gorized as either cultural or commercial, but more common-

alities than differences are shared across this border. Really

it is the permutation of many particularities, including con-tent, intention, size, setting, duration, expected audience,

and experience type that determine what an exhibition can

be and how it gets designed.

In the world of museums, there are those that use

artifacts, archival images, and text to document events

for visitors with preexisting knowledge, and those that

engage wide audiences in explorations of phenomena,

ideas, and themes through interactivity and play. Among

visitor centers, many attract year-round tourism to civic

icons, while others showcase corporate accomplishments

to employees and invited guests only. From trade shows

to international expos, independent environments com-

pete on the same floor for the attention of industry associ-ates or the general public, whose interests in a new

product, brand, or philosophy can translate into invest-

ment. Any of these exhibitions can be open for a matter

of days or decades, and designing them requires attending

to their distinct natures appropriately.

All exhibitions are designed by teams. To be sure, the

exhibition designer’s contribution is the core of the work,

as the final product is inevitably a physical environment

that functions and directs people in intended ways. How-

ever, in order to create a total design, subteams, who

together determine the story that guides the design, give

the design its shape and tone, plan and create vital ele-

ments, and build and install the actual components.

Because the field of exhibition design is quite young,

few exhibition designers, or design team members for that

matter, have come to their titles through a course of exhi-

bition design study. Rather, most approached the fieldthrough one of several avenues: designers through archi-

tecture, industrial design, commercial package design,

and furniture design; and other team members through

education, anthropology, and creative writing. Each of

these has some bearing in exhibition design, but also

requires designers and team members to think beyond

their fields and work cooperatively, as none address all

of an exhibition’s needs.

Like all processes, the exhibition design process fol-

lows a sequence of phases, moving from concept design

to schematic design, into design development, and finally

fabrication documents and fabrication and installation.

Each of these phases, often referred to differently bydifferent designers, can be further delineated into smaller

steps, and are typically completed in a reiterative fashion.

Culminating in the production of documents that signify

milestones and transitions, the phases keep team members

working toward common goals in a shared time frame,

and enable ongoing assessment of a project’s progress

that is captured and presented. A truer exploration of

exhibition design would require quite a bit more space,

Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, Third Edition DOI: 10.1081/E-ELIS3-120044031

Copyright # 2010 by Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved. 1797


3/12

and a few exceptional books have been written for that

purpose, including David Dernie’s Exhibition Design,

Larry Klein’s Exhibits: Planning and Design, Kathleen

McLean’s Planning for People in Museum Exhibitions,

and Jan Lorenc, Lee Skolnick, and Craig Berger’s What

Is Exhibition Design? Also, because the field is one that is

constantly reinventing itself, a richer understanding of

exhibition design can be had with some continual study.

Periodicals, like Exhibitor and Exhibitionist would en-

courage this, as would attendance at conferences, like the

annual American Association of Museums conference.

Finally, the best way to discover the burgeoning field of

exhibition design is to visit exhibitions. Each one is so

different from the next that comparisons made between

them would awaken any curious person to the craft

invested in them.

A last note: The background shared by the writers is

mostly of cultural exhibition design in American settings.

Much has been done to reach outside this limited scope, but

the history of exhibition design in Europe, and the excit-

ingly expanding field in both Europe and Asia are topicsthat easily warrant entire articles all their own. Exhibition

design has unquestionably become a worldwide phenome-

non, and its ubiquitous trends are reaching into other fields

everywhere. While this entry is reliable in its overview

of exhibition design, there is much more to explore, and

readers are enthusiastically encouraged to do so.

HISTORY

The origins of exhibition design are at once self-evident

and evasive. Humans naturally arrange objects for the

communication of particular statements. We do it in our homes and other environments. Arguably, creating exhibi-

tions is innate, and people have been doing it since the day

they realized they could manipulate their surroundings.[1]

European Roots

Appearing in biblical passages and Roman history, trade

fairs are as ancient as trade, itself, but trade fair exhibi-

tions as they appear today have their roots in European

history, as do exhibitions in museums.[2,3] The first of the

known major fairs, which has continued since at least

1165, was the Leipziger Messe in Leipzig, Germany.[4]

Meanwhile, the origins of museums has been traced tothe European Age of Enlightenment, when proponents

of the Age’s interest in making sense of the world,

cultivated the first natural history collections in wunder-

kammern, or cabinets of curiosity.[5] Essentially the prov-

ince of royalty and the Church, several wunderkammern

grew into renowned institutions, the Modern Museums of

Copenhagen and the Louvre among them.[6,7] While most

wunderkammern, overflowing with collectibles and ex-

otic rarities, were meant to impress onlookers with their

owner’s prestige, a number showed early signs of design,

like thematically arranged floor plans and inclusion of

interpretive text.[8,9]

Transition to Planned Experiences

In 1786, Charles Willson Peale brought museums to the

public, opening Peale’s American Museum in Philadel-phia, PA.[10] While Peale’s museum set a new precedent

for curation, that of collecting and displaying culturally

representative objects for the benefit of its visitors, its

displays followed from the wunderkammern, voluminous,

and somewhat indiscriminate. This style would hold sway

until the Museum of Modern Art in New York shifted the

paradigm in the 1940s with minimally displayed arrange-

ments of “empathetic” pieces.[1]

Meanwhile, in the commercial sphere, exhibition design

took a leap forward in 1851 with The Great Exhibition of

the Works of Industry of All Nations.[11] Planned by Prince

Albert and Henry Cole of England, the Great Exhibition

was the first truly international exhibition. Bringing 13,000exhibitors and 6,000,000 visitors together under the roof of

Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace, the Great Exhibition set

the standard for future expositions, and led to the formation

of formal oversight organizations, like the Bureau Inter-

national des Expositions. In the coming years, expos grew

increasingly impressive, with permanent structures desi-

gned by reputable engineers and architects, including the

Eiffel Tower by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 Universal

Exhibition, the current Museum of Science and Industry

for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago,

and the German Pavillion by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition.[12–14]

Also in the nineteenth century’s latter half, departmentstores began appearing worldwide. Their competition for

an emerging spending culture led them to install exhibi-

tions of power and branding in their entrances and main

floors.[15] Wanamakers in Philadelphia built a Grand Court

with a commanding bald eagle as its dome.

Toward a Contemporary Vision

In 1939, expositions moved into a new era. With the

New York World’s Fair’s theme Tomorrow’s World ,

expos began addressing humanity and cultural issues,

rather than technology and inventions.[16] Amusementrides and stage set architecture set the scene for designers

to begin creating entire environments at fairs, one more

exciting than the last. Following this course, the 1964

New York World’s Fair marked a seminal moment with

140 full pavilions, four designed by the Walt Disney

Corporation, and one by Charles and Ray Eames. Disney,

equipped with a team of Imagineers and a list of Mickey’s

Ten Commandments, had by this time opened Disneyland

in California, 1955.[17] The Eames team, with their chairs

1798 Exhibition Design

E t h i o p i a –


4/12

that both broke and set the mold, had already opened a

number of exhibitions, including the American Pavilion

in Moscow, 1959, and Mathematica in 1961, which

remained open at the Los Angeles Museum of Science

and Industry until 1998, and has since been duplicated at

several institutions.[18]

Also at this time, many larger American institutions, like

the National Museum of American History and the Field

Museum of Natural History, created exhibition planning

departments, shifting power away from curators. These

departments created blockbuster exhibitions, like the Field’s

Tut , that drew enormous crowds and set a new pace for

museum exhibition design. In this atmosphere, museums

began rethinking the purpose of exhibitions and the struc-

tures of the departments responsible for them. Michael

Spock of the field museum advocated for including into

design teams educators and content developers who could

translate scholarship into stories for general audiences.

Frank Oppenheimer of the Exploratorium in San Francisco

challenged the nature of museum exhibitions altogether,

populating them with interactive experiences from whichvisitors derived their own interpretations. A series of work-

shops at the Field in 1982, sponsored by the W. K. Kellogg

Foundation demonstrated the effectiveness of a team ap-

proach to designing museum exhibitions, an approach that

has been adopted and adapted by museums far and wide.[19]

Today, at the onset of a new century, fairs, trade

shows, and expos around the world draw attendance rates

rivaling those of the Olympic Games.[20] Museums and

visitor centers find themselves competing for expanding

tourism and audiences looking for entertainment as much

as education.[21] Design firms are increasingly contracted

to plan both cultural and commercial exhibitions, and the

resulting cross-pollination is benefiting both arenas.[22]

Undoubtedly, exhibition design is flourishing, and work

by firms in Japan, Korea, and other Asian nations is

inspiring exciting movement worldwide.[22]

ELEMENTS

All exhibitions are compositions of space, architectural

elements, materials, graphics, color, lighting, and acous-

tics. Most also include objects, artifacts and images, and

increasingly media components. The available variety of

materials and methods is remarkably vast, and expanding

rapidly with technological advances. The possible uses of them in shaping immersive, transcendent experiences for

visitors are as many as the needs of each individual exhi-

bition, and those needs are governed by the exhibition’s

narrative and context.[23]

Narrative

The narrative, also variably known as the script, messag-

ing, or storyline, is in plain terms what the exhibition is

about. It is developed from a body of knowledge, a corpo-

rate philosophy, a set of ideas, concepts or messages or a

promotion of a brand, and subsequently completed with

additional research as necessary. Structuring the informa-

tion to be presented in the exhibition, the narrative also

suggests how the information should be accessed and

interpreted. Thus, it sets the foundation for decisions

about how the environment will communicate with its

visitors.[24]

Context: Physical and Cultural

An exhibition set inside a building not yet constructed,

allows opportunities to work with an architect in tailoring

important features to the exhibition’s needs. These can

include circulation, ceiling heights, natural lighting, and

access to mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems.

However, more often designers plan exhibitions for existing

buildings, working either with or around the context’s

features.[23] Meanwhile, the situation of an exhibition in a

surrounding culture determines who might attend it, andhow it might be interpreted by attendees, as well as by press

outlets, schools, various communities, and other groups.

Depending on its reach, an exhibition’s cultural context

can require wrestling with every detail of its narrative and

design, especially in the handling of controversial topics.

Space

Space is the volumetric area that the exhibition organizes

and thematically conditions. It is usually contained by

structural walls, a floor and a ceiling within an interior,

or imaginarily assigned within a larger interior, as with

the space designated to a trade show booth. An exhibitioncan also be outside, but its space is still limited and its

organization is still in the designer’s hands. To organize

space, designers consider aesthetic and experiential prop-

erties, including scale, proportion and balance, site line,

and visitor flow, among others. All together, these proper-

ties choreograph the positioning of exhibition elements in

relationship to one another.[25]

Architectural Elements

Architectural elements are those that are constructed to

define the exhibition’s space and display its feature ele-

ments. Walls built to partition spaces, ramps pitched to steer visitor flow, platforms created to elevate experiences, and

built forms inserted for interpretive effect are just a few

examples. In interactive exhibitions, these elements also

serve a second purpose of housing and protecting mechan-

ics and audio/visual and computer equipment. Furniture

built for comfort or as part of an experience, and cases that

contain collection items or display products are also archi-

tectural elements that have design qualities all their own,

and whose appearance in the space further defines it.

Exhibition Design 1799


5/12

Materials: Construction and Finishes

Materials are used to build the exhibition’s architecture,

enable the mounting and presentation of other elements,

and evoke particular associations and sensations. Con-

struction materials, often hidden from view, are usually

generic, like wood, steel, drywall, and fiberboard. Finishes

are materials that exhibition visitors see, or that support

the other elements that visitors see, like affixed graphics

and painted colors. Traditionally, these materials have

been finished woods and different grades of glass, as in

the display cases of object-based exhibitions.[26] Recently,

technological advances have opened an expansive reper-

toire of materials to designers, including ranges of new

metals, plastics, and laminates, making it easier to evoke

emotions and interpret information and themes through

shape and texture. New materials also aid in placing

graphics and colors in desired locations, as their proper-

ties make them lightweight and receptive to paint and

adhesives.[27]

Graphics

Graphics are two-dimensional designs applied to surfaces.

In some instances, they are painted directly onto finishes.

More often, they are created with computer software,

printed on substrates with adhesive backings, and applied

to surfaces prior to their installation. Featuring text, dia-

grams, and images, graphics are used to deliver informa-

tion and suggest context. Composed of typefaces, color

palettes, patterns, and illustrations, graphics are also used

to set an exhibition’s tone, and unify its interpretive and

navigational systems. As computer and printing technol-

ogy advances, graphics are increasingly designed to cover large exhibition surfaces, like entire walls, floors, and

ceilings.[28,29]

Color, Lighting, and Acoustics

Color, lighting, and acoustics can be grouped together as

environmentally interpretive tools. They are often the

most effective tools in transporting visitors to believable

places, or immersing them in convincing ideas. Colors

conjure emotions and psychological associations, espe-

cially in juxtaposition or cooperation with one another.

Lighting both makes things visible and sets a range of moods. Acoustics control sound, dampening it in some

places, and allowing it to escalate in others. Together,

these elements make a richly interpretive exhibition expe-

rience possible, and also strongly influence its feeling.[30]

Objects, Artifacts, and Images

Objects, artifacts, and images are often a client or institu-

tion’s reason for creating an exhibition, in the first place.

In many cases, the display of one or more of these ele-

ments is intended to create a brand by which an institution

or business becomes known to the public. They can be

small enough to require a microscope, or large enough to

fit groups of people inside; sensitive enough to warrant

controlled conditions, or best experienced through touch

and manipulation. Exhibition designers create environ-

ments that both highlight these elements as attractions

and storytelling elements, and protect them as necessary.

Media

Media in exhibitions commonly refers to on-screen me-

dia, which includes film, video, and interactive virtual

experiences. Increasingly, media is becoming a standard

expectation. A handful of exhibitions have even been

designed with media as their central themes, or with me-

dia pieces serving as pinnacle experiences. In the last few

years, media has become highly sophisticated, able to

respond to users in surprising ways, and to perform ever

more complex functions. Fully immersive media experi-ences are now not only possible, but are even becoming

commonplace. Balancing these powerful experiences with

the rest of an exhibition has become an important chal-

lenge for designers.

PROCESS

From start to finish, the creation of an exhibition can take

several weeks to several years, depending on its size and

the complications of its content, context, and physical

requirements. Certainly, every designer has his or her

own approach to bringing an exhibition from nonexistentto open to the public, but all create through a process that

advances through a series of work phases.[31] Referring to

the phases, designers often use different terminology, but

commonly they are known in sequence as concept, sche-

matic, design development, fabrication documents, and

fabrication and installation.

From here, the process appears step-by-step and direct.

However, the progression of an exhibition’s design is

rarely so simple and linear. Rather, designers work in

what is called a reiterative fashion, meaning that within

each phase iterations of designs are completed, reviewed,

and revised until satisfactory. On a macro level, whole

phases can be reiterated until complete; on a micro level,single drawings or written descriptions can cycle in their

own reiterative processes. Further emphasizing the pro-

cess’ reiterative direction, exhibition designers typically

allow for returns to previous process phases either to

complete unfinished steps, or to revise designs as new

information and insights emerge. In mapping a process at

a project’s outset, designers try to plan ahead for these

motions, doing their best to keep to schedule and within

budget.


E t h i o p i a –


6/12

Throughout the exhibition design process, a succession

of document sets, or packages is produced. Each set sig-

nifies a benchmark, simultaneously presenting the culmi-

nation of the designer’s work up to that point, and

establishing the new foundation from which the work will

continue. Titled after the process phases they complete,

the document sets are typically known as concept, sche-

matic, design development, and fabrication documents. In

the fabrication and installation phase, there are no bench-

mark documents, as the culmination of this phase is the

opening of the exhibition itself.

Concept

The concept phase marks the initiation of an exhibition

design project. Its primary goal is the establishment of the

exhibition’s foundations, and its principal work is charac-

terized by research, brainstorming, and exploration. To

determine what the exhibition will be about, initial re-

search into its topic is conducted, structured into a hierar-

chy or framework, and developed into a preliminaryscript. The script determines the exhibition’s perspective

or approach to the topic, and with it in place, the exhibi-

tion’s general look, feel, and function begin to bloom

through a series of brainstorming sessions. From the ses-

sions, designers make explorations, sketching architec-

ture, and exhibit ideas that could appropriately translate

the script into an experience.

The concept document set can include:

Concept outline, exhibition criteria, preliminary script. Sketches or diagrams of the whole space and its com-

ponents. Analyses of projected attendance and circulation. Initial rough budget projections. Preliminary schedule. Suggestions of graphic style, copy style, and object

and artifact placements. Suggestions for marketing and outreach.

Schematic

During the schematic phase, the approved concept is

used to create a preliminary design for the entire exhi-

bition. The goal of the schematic phase is to identify

the exhibition’s components and make them imaginable,while leaving room for their details to be developed and

debated. Extending from the preceding phase, script

writing, brainstorming, and exploration continue until

the concept is fully fleshed out, and a design for the

entire exhibition can be proposed and discussed. Making

this possible, designers begin seriously assessing the

physical context in which the exhibition will be installed,

as well as the host’s resources for marketing, outreach,

and staffing.

The schematic document set can include:

Finished preliminary script. Revised project budget and schedule. Floor plans. Sketches of vignettes and component elevations. Foam core spatial models and mock-ups, or photo-

graphs of them.

Design Development

While the body of the exhibition has been made imagin-

able by the schematic designs, its details still need to

be elaborated. The goal of the design development phase

is to specify the exhibition’s details. The thrust of the

phase is in making definite choices about the tangible

things that will compose the three-dimensional environ-

ment, including materials, colors, graphics, text, equip-

ment, lighting schemes, A/V scripts, and computer

software. The decision-based character of design develop-

ment shifts the focus of the exhibition design processfrom imagining possibilities to making the chosen possi-

bilities work.

The design development document set can include:

Plan, elevation, and sectional drawings of all exhibi-

tion components. Written descriptions of all exhibition components. Preliminary schedules, lists of materials, graphics,

A/V equipment, and hardware and descriptions of

their uses. Updated project budget and schedule.

Fabrication Documents

In the fabrication documents phase, the decisions made in

the design development phase are incorporated into a set

of technical drawings and specifications. The goal of the

fabrication documents phase is twofold: first, to produce

documents so highly detailed that they can serve as

instructions for fabricating the exhibition; second, to iden-

tify a fabricator. Every detail of the exhibition, down to

its literal nuts and bolts, is specified, recorded in sche-

dules and indicated in hard-line drawings. Once this is

done, designers open a competitive bidding process, un-

less a trusted fabricator is already known. Designers also

open bidding for other contractors, including media pro-ducers, graphics producers, and copywriters, if they have

not yet been chosen.

The fabrication document set can include:

Hard-line, dimensioned plan, elevation, section, and

“exploded” drawings of every exhibition component

with close-ups of important details and specifications

of materials and hardware. Finalized schedules.



7/12

Plans for lighting, electricity, A/V connections, me-

chanics, and plumbing. Final project budget and schedule.

Fabrication and Installation

The final phase, fabrication and installation, takes the

exhibition from drawing and study to actuality. The goal

of this phase is a successful opening, and to get there

takes meticulous decisions on behalf of clients. First, the

fabrication drawings are delivered to the chosen fabrica-

tor. The fabricator reviews them and returns them as shop

drawings with suggestions of necessary, and sometimes

creative revisions. The designer then reviews the revi-

sions, and either approves them or makes further sugges-

tions. This back and forth shuttling continues until the

fabricator is confident he or she can build precisely what

the designer wants. Ensuring the fabrication meets the

design’s intents, the designer makes frequent visits to the

fabricator’s shop during this phase, as well as to the stu-

dios of other contractors. Present at the exhibition’s in-stallation, designers watch over details to the very end.

No documents are delivered during the fabrication and

installation phase. The culmination of the phase is the

exhibition’s opening.

UNDERSTANDING AUDIENCE

Throughout the process, designers strive to understand

their audience as best they can, and get ideas from them

about how to better the exhibition’s design.[32] To reiterate

the point: Any exhibition is a medium for communication.

Its very purpose for being built rests on the fact that peoplewill visit it.[33] Who those people are—children, adults,

scholars, the general public, etc.—determines the verbal,

visual, and experiential language most appropriate for the

dialog.[34–36] Cultivating an understanding of the audience

not only encourages an exhibition’s success, it recognizes

its responsibility. To this end, many designers conduct

formal studies of their audiences at different phases of the

process. Often, contracted evaluators are hired to perform

these studies more systematically and objectively.[37]

Initial Understanding: Front-End

During the concept phase, or even prior to it, manydesigners conduct front-end evaluations. Learning what

an audience already knows and feels about an exhibition’s

topic can help set the parameters of its script and influence

its possible presentation and tone. Considering an audi-

ence’s abilities and learning styles helps produce exhibits

that are suitable for them. Certainly, fair generalizations

about an exhibition’s intended audience can be made with

demographics, learning theories, and past precedents,

but many designers prefer to “meet” their audiences, or

representatives thereof, through formal studies, such as

questionnaires, focus groups, and interviews.

Informed Understanding: Formative

Arguably, the most useful evaluation, formative evalua-

tion, can be conducted in the schematic design phase,

when it becomes possible to gauge audience reactions

accurately before moving into the latter decision-making

phases.[38] By providing them with drawings, designers

can ask evaluation participants direct questions about a

fairly imaginable exhibition. By presenting them with

foam-core mock-ups, designers can observe participants’

interactions with their designs, often adjusting the mock-

ups to test various possibilities. Follow-up interviews and

questionnaires provide insights into what audiences are

deriving from their experiences. Results and recommen-

dations from these tests are used to finalize schematic

plans and prepare for making determined design decisions

in the next phase.

Specific Understanding: Prototyping

During the design development phase, concerns about

the operations of particular exhibit components arise. Be-

cause the level of detail is so specific in this phase, it

becomes possible to build full-scale prototypes of these

components. If the budget allows, designers can try varia-

tions of actual materials and mechanics until the compo-

nent works exactly as intended. Including audiences in

prototype testing can be extremely informative, as very

reliable observations can be made from their engagements

with and reactions to the exhibition.

Final Understanding: Summative

No better reaction to an exhibition can be gauged than

that of an actual audience in the actual space. Often,

designers add a postopening phase to the exhibition de-

sign process during which modifications can be made

to exhibit components that for all their planning do not

result as intended. Formal studies of audiences during this

phase, known as summative evaluations, time and observe

interactions and behaviors, and gather audience responses

through interviews. The findings of these studies can

often point to simple solutions to apparent issues, or les-

sons for the next project.

DESIGNERS AND DESIGN TEAMS

Because by their nature, exhibitions are cross-disciplinary

experiences, they are designed by teams. Depending on

the size of the exhibition, teams can be comprised of

individuals, or entire departments. In many cases, coordi-

nation of the players’ contributions, and assurance of their


E t h i o p i a –


8/12

mutual understanding of a shared process are as crucial

for a project’s success as any individual’s talent.

The assembling of a team can be the task of a lead

team member, or a manager who serves a more supervi-

sory role. In most design firms and museum exhibition

departments, team members are chosen from full-time

staff. Meanwhile, it is not uncommon for firms and

departments to complete teams by hiring freelance work-

ers. In some cases, teams are formed solely for the project

at hand. In still other cases, teams can include a core team

surrounded by peripheral ones, made up of hired experts,

volunteer advisors, interested community members, and

so on. In any instance, when assembling a team, the goal

is to select compatible team members, whose talents and

interests match the needs of the exhibition, some of which

will unfold as the project develops.[39,40]

Making decisions together, and communicating in gen-

eral, are critical tasks for exhibition design teams, espe-

cially those working on large projects that take years to

complete. Many models exist for structuring teams and

enabling their collective efforts.

[41]

They range on a spec-trum from linear hierarchies, with one chief decision maker,

to egalitarian committees that strive for consensus.

Similar to teams working in other fields of design and

communications media, exhibition design teams generally

divide their responsibilities into at least two sides (not a

technical term, but one commonly used), one to handle the

development of the story, content , and the other to handle

its telling, design. Often, teams also include a third side,

project management , to coordinate the actions of the whole

team and supervise the production of the entire project.

Within their sides, individual team members work to-

ward common goals, but it is through the collaboration

between sides that an exhibition is fully designed. Bothcontent and design bring their work to the table, and

management ensures that the story and its telling remain

within the project’s feasibility. Thus, some permeability

between sides is usually important for best practice. A

team whose members respect each other’s roles, but can

think in each other’s terms is the most likely to succeed

with greatest ease.

Content Team

Responsible for the story itself, team members on the con-

tent side can include curators, educators, exhibit develo-

pers, interpretive planners, content developers, contentcoordinators, researchers, and writers. Collectively, their

role is to cultivate the ideas, topics, and information to be

conveyed in the exhibition, and articulate them in a manner

that visitors will be able to grasp. The process of doing so

typically follows a reiterative course of accumulating, edit-

ing and arranging knowledge that relies on research, orga-

nization, analysis, association, and story-writing skills.

In the design of exhibitions that are rich in objects and

artifacts, content team members also maintain knowledge

of available collections and external sources. Sometimes,

entire stories are constructed around the showing of a

single item. Other times, it is through categorizing items

and selecting the most totemic ones that a story emerges.

Knowing what is obtainable, and understanding how the

inclusion and omission of particular objects and artifacts

will affect a story is the job of content team members.

Once a compelling story has been developed, the col-

lective role of content team members becomes that of

ensuring that the design expresses it, and that the expres-

sion is appropriate to the intended visitors. Often, this

calls for responses to evaluation findings, and additional

research and development to inform the details of the

story as its translation manifests.

Design Team

Determining how to tell the story, the design side of

the team can comprise a variety of designers from various

disciplines, including graphics, media, lighting, and

acoustics, all of whose work is coordinated by a leadexhibit designer, typically also supervising the efforts of

junior exhibit designers. Oftentimes, draftspeople, model

makers, illustrators, and other talents are added to the

design side to aid its diverse disciplines. All together,

design team members give the exhibition dimensionality

that people can enter, navigate, use, and share.

Beginning with rough sketches, designers’ transition to

drawings, and finally hard-line drawings as they reitera-

tively conceptualize, plan, and detail the visual and expe-

riential communication of the content. Inevitably, the act

of drawing reveals problems in the exhibition’s function-

ality and challenges to its proper expressions. Solving

these problems is part of designing exhibits, and doing sooften requires invention. Most designers welcome such

detours, viewing their pursuit as opportunities to make

their designs unique and successful.

As the exhibition develops, the various designers’

work affects each other. Graphics influence the exhibi-

tion’s look, light reflects on graphic surfaces in unex-

pected ways, audio from media transforms acoustic

spaces. Meanwhile, each of the design contributions car-

ries material concerns. Lighting grids need to be sus-

pended and electrically wired, graphics need substrates

that adhere to surfaces, and acoustics call for very specific

finishes. Each of these is researched, sized, and specified

by the design side, and the responsibility for all of itfitting together, both conceptually and tangibly, resides

with design team members.

Project Management Side

Responsible for the exhibition’s opening on time and

within budget, the management side of the team usually

includes one project manager. Typically the liaison

between the team and the project’s client, the project



9/12

manager drafts a scope and a schedule and budget for

its completion, and communicates progress, delays, and

changes between parties. Because the project manager

remains aware of time, money, and the client’s concerns,

design teams frequently look to him or her to remind them

of parameters on their creativity. While this can be a

politically sensitive position, it is a critical one. Not only

does it help the team accomplish the job properly, but

it also protects team members from investing beyond the

project’s bounds, keeping them from overworking and

making sure they’ll be available when needed for the next

project.

Because bringing an exhibition to its fruition involves

the weaving together of so many efforts over time, coor-

dination is the project manager’s principal and constant

task.[42] With the many team members working indepen-

dently on their ends of the project, the project manager

resides at the center, keeping everyone apprised of each

other’s progress, and helping maintain the team’s camara-

derie and morale. At times, this can require great tact, as

any one team member’s progress can easily influencechanges, or even pose difficulties in that of another.

CONCLUSION: CONTEMPORARY TRENDS ANDCHALLENGES

The current state of exhibition design is an effervescent

one. Still relatively young, and certainly younger than the

museums and expos it services, its movement toward

becoming a formalized field has accelerated in recent

years, but its standards of practice have yet to be codified.

Only a handful of design schools teach it as a subject, and

only in rare instances is it offered as a full course or major.[43–45] Professionals of various types are filling its

positions, and their writings about their own experiences

are some of the first. Meanwhile, exhibition design is

growing by leaps and bounds, and gaining momentum

around the world, as cultural institutions, corporations,

businesses, public awareness campaigns, city govern-

ments, and more call upon the unique mode of communi-

cation that only exhibitions can offer.

The Next Big Way to Present the Next Big Thing

Over the last few decades, attendance rates at interna-tional expos have skyrocketed into the tens of millions.

Meanwhile, casinos like New York, New York , and retail

chains like Apple, Niketown, and IKEA have realized the

power of reshaping their stores into total, experiential

environments.[46] In both arenas, the goal of communica-

tion is to present the next big thing, be it a product, brand,

lifestyle, or philosophy. Competition in the commercial

sphere has become intense and fast-paced, and designers

are constantly looking for the next big way to present the

next big thing. As a result, in many ways, commercial

exhibition design has become a proving ground for many

new technologies, materials, and strategies.[47]

More and more frequently, these new technologies,

materials, and strategies are also being incorporated into

cultural exhibition design. One possible reason is that

most exhibition design firms work in both arenas, often

supplementing their abilities in the cultural sphere with

earnings from the commercial sphere. Another is the re-

cently emergent phenomenon of in-house teams collabor-

ating with contracted designers, who give shape to

expertly researched content in institutions whose staff

knows the audience quite well.

New Perspectives of Interpretation

In years past, knowing an audience was less valued by

cultural institutions who viewed themselves as having a

more authoritative role. The shift toward gauging visitor

expectations and interests, often through focus groups,

surveys, and other tools familiar to the commercial sector,is a recent one that is swiftly setting a new paradigm.

Responding to visitors, cultural institutions have learned

how to maintain and expand their public reach. Enabling

this response, designers increasingly plan exhibitions that

are more able to communicate with particular audiences.

To do so, many design teams have added educators to

their talent and educational theory to their tool kits.[48]

Not limited to cultural exhibitions, commercial designers

have also begun to consider experiential learning, con-

structivism, multiple intelligence theory, theories of in-

trinsic motivation, and others as helpful guides in

creating communicative environments.[49–52]

Universal Access

Along the same lines, a recent phenomenon is the require-

ment of planning for people with disabilities. While

designers have always taken this into consideration, as one

goal has always been to reach as many people as possible,

allowing for universal access has in many places become

enforceable by law. In the United States, title III, section

36.101 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of

1990 “prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. . .

and requires places of public accommodation and commer-

cial facilities to be designed. . .

in compliance with theaccessibility standards established” by the ADA.[53,54] As

stated in explicit terms, exhibition designers, like the

designers of any nonresidential facility, are now legally

obligated to plan environments that do not exclude physi-

cally impaired people. The ramifications of this are enor-

mous, as are the opportunities. On one hand a suite of new

constraints are imposed; on the other hand, implementing

standards like the ADA’s positions designers to revolution-

ize communities by creating wholly inclusive environments.


E t h i o p i a –


10/12

New Narratives

The trend in museums to respond to visitors’ interests has

engendered the rise in popularity of issue-based exhibi-

tions, made possible by a popular push away from object-

based exhibitions and towards concept-based ones. As

race, death, health, fear, and other conceptual explora-

tions become crowd-draws for museums, exhibitions are

changing shape to suit a very different genre of narrative.

Designers increasingly plan environments that embody

questions and journeys, rather than simply representations

of topical times and places.[55]

New Technology

One undeniable force that has transformed exhibition

design in just the last few years is digital technology and

the hurrying pace of its advances. Computers are now small

enough and powerful enough to easily be hidden from view,

while providing incredibly rich experiences. Video and

screen-based interactivity can deliver massive amountsof self-discovered information without consuming much

space. The temptation to fill an exhibition with digital

experiences is a pressing one for many designers, and often

something close to that is requested by a client.

Meanwhile, computers’ shrinking dimensions and

escalating abilities are placing more of them in more

people’s homes and pockets, equipping people with rich

experiences that require no environmental contexts. The

need to create digital experiences that are unique, or more

sophisticated than what is available to consumers, has

become demanding for exhibition designers. Likewise,

the challenge of designing real environments equally or

more exciting than virtual ones has become an actual

pressure.[56]

One emerging solution is the design of digital experi-

ences that are integrated into exhibition environments.[57]

As technologies like motion tracking and multitouch flat

screens become more accessible, this solution has grown

more viable. Another emerging solution is the invention

of new technologies and varieties of interfaces. Speaking

to both solutions, a new industry is burgeoning.[58–60]

Digital designers contracting with exhibition designers

are gaining popularity, often winning bids for jobs as

collaborative teams.

New Technology Backstage

The influence of technology’s innovations is also revolu-

tionizing exhibition design behind the scenes. Software

applications, like Photoshop, Illustrator , AutoCAD, 3D

Studio Max, Sketch Up, Revit , and Vectorworks, have

nearly rendered obsolete traditional design tools, like

compasses, shape palettes, drafting tables, and pencils.

At the same time, the Internet has become an

indispensable resource for content developers and

researchers, as well as a location for idea-exchange

forums hosted by design communities, like the Associa-

tion of Science-Technology Center’s Exhibit Files Web

site and blog.[61] E-mail and FTP’s have expedited com-

munications between teams and clients, and also made it

possible to easily collaborate across oceans. The effect of

this sweeping change of tools is not only immeasurable,

but also hardly complete.

Accounting for Sustainability

All exhibitions are made of materials whose processing

and transportation extracts natural resources and emits

greenhouse gasses.[23,62] Lighting, video projections, and

other electrically powered elements drain large amounts

of energy and produce pollution when sources of power

are fossil-fuel-burning power plants. Publicly supported

regulations and institutions like the World Green Building

Council are setting standards for designers to follow, and

making those standards achievable by helping grow aneconomy for them. As these concerns swell in the public

conscience, designers have an opportunity to serve as

vanguards by creating sustainable exhibitions visited by

millions of people.

Looking Forward

In any field of design, the root of the practice is in present-

ing information and emotion in new and more effective

fashions. Responsively, designers view the challenges of

the day as abundances of promising opportunities. As

today’s exhibition designers plan environments that en-gage people in experiences in compelling new ways, they

raise the field from its youth to its fruition. As they stay

aware of trends and plan one step ahead of them, they raise

the bar.

REFERENCES

1. Dernie, D. Introduction. In Exhibition Design; Laurence

King Publishing Ltd. London, 2006; 6–19.

2. Suggs, J.M.; Sakenfeld, K.D.; Mueller, J.R., Eds. Ezekiel

27:10. In The Oxford Study Bible; Oxford University Press:

New York, 1992; 885–886.3. Roupp, H., Ed. Europe and India. In Teaching World

History; M.E. Sharpe: Amonk, NY, 1997; 171–172.

4. http://www.leipziger-messe.de/LeMMon/LMGWeb_E.NSF/

pages/messeeng?OpenDocument (accessed March 2008).

5. Impey, O.; MacGregor, A. Introduction. In The Origins of

Museums; House of Stratus: North Yorkshire, U.K., 2001;

xvii–xx.

6. Lorenc, J.; Skolnick, L.; Berger, C. A brief history

of exhibition design. In What is Exhibition Design?

Rotovision: Hove, U.K., 2007; 12–17.



11/12

7. Gundestrup, B. From the royal Kunstkammer to the mod-

ern museums of Copenhagen. In The Origins of Museums;

Impey, O., MacGregor, A., Eds.; House of Stratus: North

Yorkshire, U.K., 2001; 177–188.

8. Olmi, G. Science—honour—metaphor: Italian cabinets of

the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In The Origins

of Museums; Impey, O., MacGregor, A., Eds.; House of

Stratus: North Yorkshire, U.K., 2001; 1–18.

9. Laurencich-Minelli, L. Museography and ethnographicalcollections in Bologna during the sixteenth and seven-

teenth centuries. In The Origins of Museums; Impey, O.,

MacGregor, A., Eds.; House of Stratus: North Yorkshire,

U.K., 2001; 19–28.

10. Alexander, E.P. The natural history museum. In Museums

in Motion: An Introduction to the History and Functions of

Museums; The American Association for State and Local

History: Nashville, TN, 1979; 39–60.

11. http://www.lib.umd.edu/ARCH/honr219f/1851lond.html

(accessed March 2008).

12. http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/ (accessed March 2008).

13. http://expomuseum.com/1893/ (accessed March 2008).

14. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5xb551wtnI (accessed

March 2008).15. Leach, W. Interiors. In Land of Desire; Random House,

Inc.: New York, 1993; 71–90.

16. http://park.org/Pavilions/WorldExpositions/new_york.html


17. http://thisdayindisneyhistory.homestead.com/WorldsFair.

html (accessed March 2008).

18. http://www.eamesoffice.com/index2.php?mod=exhibitions


19. Klein, L. Museum exhibition. In Exhibits; Madison Square

Press: New York, 1986; 62–89.

20. http://www.answers.com/topic/trade-fair?cat=biz-fin (accessed

March 2008).

21. Stefanovich, A. Driving innovation in museums. In

American Association of Museums Annual Meeting, Chicago,IL, May 16, 2007.

22. Lorenc, J.; Skolnick, L.; Berger, C. Portfolios. In What is

Exhibition Design? Rotovision: Hove, U.K., 2007;

140–249.

23. Lorenc, J.; Skolnick, L.; Berger, C. Process. In What is

Exhibition Design? Rotovision: Hove, U.K., 2007;

104–139.

24. Caulton, T. Exhibit devlopment. In Hands-On Exhibitions:

Managing Interactive Museums and Science Centers;

Routledge: London, 1998; 39–56.

25. McLean, K. Transforming space. In Planning for People in

Museums; Association of Science-Technology Centers:

Washington, DC, 1993; 115–130.

26. Witteborg, L.P. Raw materials. In Good Show! Stevens, A.P., Ed.; Smithsonian Institution: Washington, DC, 1982;

145–156.

27. Cuffaro, D.F.; Paige, D.; Blackman, C.J.; Laituri, D.;

Covert, D.E.; Sears, L.M.; Nehez-Cuffaro, A. Material

selection. In Process, Materials and Measurements: All the

Details Industrial Designers Need to Know But Can Never

Find ; Rockport Publishers: Gloucester, MA, 2006; 78–87.

28. http://www.segd.org/about/what_egd.html (accessed Sep-

tember 11, 2008).

29. Calori, C. What is environmental graphic design? In Sign-

age and Wayfinding Design: A Complete Guide to Envi-

ronmental Graphic Design Systems; John Wiley & Sons,

Inc.: Hoboken, NJ, 2007; 2–13.

30. Dernie, D. Lighting. In Exhibition Design; Laurence King

Publishing Ltd.: London, 2006; 136–159.

31. Dean, D. The exhibition development process. In Museum

Exhibition: Theory and Practice; Routledge: London,

1994; 8–18.32. http://www.visitorstudies.org/ (accessed September 11,

2008).

33. Dean, D. Audiences and learning. In Museum Exhibition:

Theory and Practice; Routledge: London, 1994; 19–32.

34. Hooper-Greenhill, E. Communication in theory and prac-

tice. In Museums and Their Visitors; Routledge: London,

1994; 35–53.

35. Panero, J.; Zelnik, M. Introduction. In Human Dimension &

Interior Space: A Source Book of Design Reference Stan-

dards; Whitney Library of Design: New York, 1979;

15–20.

36. Ruth, L.C. Introduction. In Design Standards for Chil-

dren’s Environments; McGraw Hill: New York, 2000;

vii–x.37. Diamond, J. Planning an evaluation project. In Practical

Evaluation Guide: Tools for Museums & Other Informal

Educational Settings; AltaMira Press: Walnut Creek, CA,

1999; 15–24.

38. McLean, K. Doing it right. In Planning for People in

Museums; Association of Science-Technology Centers:

Washington, DC, 1993; 68–80.

39. Klein, L. What is an exhibit? In Exhibits; Madison Square

Press: New York, 1986; 62–89.

40. McLean, K. Teams and schemes: The cast of players. In

Planning for People in Museums; Association of Science-

Technology Centers: Washington, DC, 1993; 35–47.

41. Smithsonian Institution Office of Policy and Analysis,

Exhibition making models. In The Making of Exhibitions: Purpose, Structure, Roles and Process; Smithsonian Insti-

tution: Washington DC, 2002; 5–10.

42. Bine, J. A project manager is. Exhibitionist Spring’06 ;

70–71.

43. http://www.pratt.edu/newsite/index.php?group_id=62&div_

id=5375 (accessed March 2008).

44. http://www3.fitnyc.edu/graduatestudies/exhibition (accessed

September 11, 2008).

45. http://www.uarts.edu/academics/cad/ms/mepd.html (accessed

September 16, 2008).

46. Klingmann, A. The lessons of Las Vegas. In Brandscapes;

MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 2007; 189–205.

47. Vranckx, B. Leisure. In Exhibit Design: High Impact

Solutions; Collins Design: New York, 2006; 202–253.48. Hooper-Greenhill, E. Forces for change. In Museums and

Their Visitors; Routledge: London, 1994; 6–34.

49. Dewey, J. Criteria of experience. In Experience and Edu-

cation; Simon and Schuster, Inc.: New York, 1938; 33–50.

50. Hein, G. Significance of constructivism for museum edu-

cation. In Museums and the Needs of the People; Interna-

tional Committee on Museums Meeting: Israel, 1991.

51. Gardener, H. The idea of multiple intelligences. In Frames

of Mind ; Basic Books: New York, 1983; 3–11.


E t h i o p i a –


12/12

52. Csikszentmihalyi, M.; Hermanson, K. Intrinsic motivation

in museums: What makes visitors want to learn? Mus.

News May/June 1995, 74 (3), 3438.

53. http://www.justice.gov/crt/ada/reg3a.html#Anchor-Appendix-

52467 (accessed March 2008).

54. Majewski, J. On striving for accessible exhibition design.

In Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible Exhibition

Design; Smithsonian Accessibility Program: Washington,

DC, 1996; iii–iv.55. Skolnick, L. Towards a new museum architecture. In

Reshaping Museum Space: Architecture, Design, Exhibitions;

MacLeod, S., Ed.; Routledge: New York, 2005; 118–130.

56. Thomas, S. Introduction. In The Digital Museum: A Think

Guide; Din, H., Hecht, P., Eds.; American Association of

Museums: Washington, DC, 2007; 1–8.

57. Mouw, M.; Spock, D. Immersive media: Creating theatri-

cal storytelling experiences. In The Digital Museum: A

Think Guide; Din, H., Hecht, P., Eds.; American Associa-

tion of Museums: Washington, DC, 2007; 45–56.

58. http://snibbe.com/ (accessed March 2008).

59. http://www.localprojects.net/lpV2/ (accessed March 2008).

60. http://www.mine-control.com/ (accessed September 2008).

61. http://www.exhibitfiles.org/ (accessed March 2008).

62. Cuffaro, D.F.; Paige, D.; Blackman, C.J.; Laituri, D.;Covert, D.E.; Sears, L.M.; Nehez-Cuffaro, A. Sustainable

design. In Process, Materials and Measurements: All

the Details Industrial Designers Need to Know But Can

Never Find ; Rockport Publishers: Gloucester, MA, 2006;

172–177.


Design of Exhibitions

Documents

Transcript of Design of Exhibitions