Exhibit Development Information

Museum interpretive exhibits should go beyond mere display of museum collections, they should strive to identify, describe, and explain the significance and meaning of the objects in those collections. Exhibits enable the museum visitor to experience and understand "the real thing" in a manner that could not otherwise be readily accomplished.

Visitors to museum exhibits may not fully recognize the substantial "behind the scenes" effort that is necessary to develop quality exhibits. Good exhibit development involves a systematic process with distinct phases including planning, design, and fabrication/installation. In addition, there may be follow-up evaluation and maintenance concerns. Large exhibits usually involve a more complex developmental process, but even the smallest exhibit will benefit from a careful systematic approach to development. Let's briefly look at each phase in the exhibit development process....

Phase 1: Planning

Exhibit planning is itself a fairly complex activity. At the outset, the exhibit team must carefully consider a number of factors important to the success of the exhibit development process:

Each exhibit development project will involve a thorough exploration of all these issues -- the answers to the questions usually prove to be unique for each project (although it is often useful review previous successful projects to look for helpful hints). Early on, the museum should establish an exhibit team to work through these issues. The team usually consists of representatives of the various parties with a stake in the exhibit development process. Museums that lack in-house exhibit expertise may elect to bring in an outside planner/designer to guide this sometimes difficult process.

The exhibit team typically provides several products at the conclusion of the planning process:

The planning products should be reviewed and approved by the museum's board, thus ensuring that the entire museum and all parties interested in the exhibit project are working in unison. A package of these products can then be given to the exhibit designer as the basis for the design phase. The package can also serve as a good advertisement when presenting the project to potential funding bodies.

Phase 2: Design

Exhibit design is perhaps the most critical phase of the exhibit development process, in that it determines how the exhibit plans can be realistically translated into actual physical exhibits. Although the fundamental goal of the the exhibit design effort should always focus on interpretation, the designer must also successfully cope with a vast range of other considerations including esthetic concerns, collection protection, building and safety codes, handicapped access, cost effectiveness, maintenance, etc.

Although large museums sometimes retain exhibit designers on their staffs, museums of all sizes commonly contract with exhibit designers on a project-by-project basis. Because designers specializing in interpretive exhibits are scarce, architects, graphic artists, or other professional designers sometimes take on exhibit design, but generally this approach will prove successful only if that designer also understands the nature of interpretation and curation as well as the art of design per se. Also, it should be noted that design firms who specialize in commercial exhibits may not necessarily have much exposure to interpretation of museum collections. As a general rule, it is best to choose an exhibit designer with actual proven experience in the development of interpretive exhibits.

Another consideration related to exhibit design involves the relationship between the design and fabrication phases. In a "turnkey" scenario, the design and fabrication phases are combined, so that the same party designs and builds the exhibits. Another approach involves separating the design work from the fabrication work, so that separate parties may bid and undertake the two phases as distinct operations. There are pros and cons to both approaches, and any museum contemplating exhibit development should discuss the implications of the alternative approaches with competent planners or designers before settling on a specific approach.

Products of the exhibit design phase would typically include the following:

At the conclusion of the design phase, the design products should be reviewed and approved by the museum board prior to commencement of the fabrication phase. A quality design documentation package can prove very effective as an adjunct to raising funds for the exhibit project. An exhibit model, although adding more cost, may be a particularly effective tool when approaching potential funding parties, and of course is an excellent way to let museum visitors and supporters know how the exhibits will look long before they are actually completed.

Phase 3: Fabrication/Installation

With the exhibit design phase completed, the next step focuses on actual construction of the physical exhibits themselves. This work usually involves a number of different types of activities, including woodworking, graphics production, finishing work, preparation of museum objects, etc. As previously mentioned, the fabrication may be undertaken by the same party responsible for the design (the "turnkey" approach), or alternatively it could be carried out by a different party retained through a separate bidding process.

When practical, all fabrication may occur in the immediate proximity of the space that will house the exhibit, in which case no separate transportation and installation procedures would be necessary. However, in most instances at least some of the exhibit components are constructed at separate shop facilities and then transported to the museum where there are installed in their final location. And of course different elements of the exhibits may be fabricated at different locations, such as structures in a woodworking shop, images and captions at a graphics shop, and so forth.

Depending on the design, fabrication may be relatively simple and inexpensive, or it may be complex and expensive where sophisticated construction is involved or if substantial interactive capabilities are utilized. For modest projects, a museum may successfully utilize the services of a finish carpenter or cabinetmaker for structural work, and perhaps rely on in-house resources assisted by a local copy or print shop for graphics work. For more ambitious projects, it may be worthwhile to secure the services of a commercial exhibit production firm.

Follow-up: Evaluation, Maintenance, Upgrades

Museums may understandably have concerns about completed exhibits that extend over the useful life of those exhibits. They often want to monitor visitor response to the exhibits to see if the interpretive goals are actually being met. They frequently want to be sure that the exhibits can be maintained and repaired if necessary, and perhaps upgraded with changes in collections or the arrival of new information.

A good exhibit designer will have designed the museum's exhibits in such a way that later maintenance and alterations can be practically accommodated. For modest exhibits constructed of readily available materials using relatively simple fabrication methods, it may be sufficient for the designer to provide an appropriate manual that the museum staff could later consult as they utilize in-house resources. On the other hand, especially in cases involving more sophisticated exhibit methods, materials, or equipment, the museum might find it advantageous to contract for ongoing exhibit services on a retainer basis.

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