Techniques and Procedures for Developing Exhibits
Techniques and Procedures for Developing Exhibits
January 5, 2011 by Taylor Studios
*Today’s guest blogger is Rick Riccio. Rick is the owner of Riccio Exhibit Services and is now in his 15th year of teaching History Museum Exhibits to graduate students in the Historical Administration (HA) Program at Eastern Illinois University. He has worked on museum exhibitions in one manner or another since 1974. Each of the exhibitions with which he has been involved has had its unique challenges and problems to solve. In all his years of experience, however, the most difficult task he has faced is teaching others the exhibit development process. In the following blog (Part I of II), Rick explains the process he guides his students through so they understand what is involved when creating exhibits.
Some of the techniques and procedures I have the students go through to develop their exhibit skills may be useful to others in the museum profession who find themselves having to develop an exhibition for the first time. Or maybe you have been appointed to serve on an exhibit team for the first time and aren’t quite sure how to proceed or know what is expected of you.
This blog takes the exhibit development process up to the preparation of the Design Brief. One of the first things I point out to my students is that all exhibitions go through the same stages in the exhibit development process. At the most general level those stages are: Planning, Design, Fabrication, and Installation. Although this process is apparently linear, a lot of overlap occurs. It’s never as neat and tidy as it looks on paper. You’ll find yourself refining the design after fabrication has begun. You may have to edit text when that perfect artifact suddenly appears mid-process. But in general the process proceeds from big picture concerns to increasingly more detailed components of the project. It’s easy to fall into the trap of jumping into discussions about the exhibit details. This exhibit needs lots of audio-visuals, for example, or the walls have to be painted blue. One of the first objectives should be the establishment of a “big idea,” a unifying statement that sums up what the exhibit is about. Then you can start to develop take home messages. What do you want the visitor to know or feel after seeing the exhibit? Only after these things are in place can we then discuss the best way to communicate this or that particular message.
At the beginning of the semester, the students form committees. Each student applies for one of five committees: Curatorial, Design, Registrar, Photography/Web Design, and Education. Assigned projects are designed to give students experience in all aspects of exhibit development, but students have ultimate responsibilities for those duties specific to their assigned committee. This prepares the students for the team approach to exhibit development.
One of the biggest obstacles to successful exhibit development is in the area of communication. As the class instructor, I play the role of the exhibit manager. I facilitate the process for the students. They have to make sure communication occurs, not only within committees and between committees, but also with the exhibit manager (instructor) and the client (museum director). Communication strategies include circulating meeting minutes, informal committee reports, etc.
Ideas, like the “big idea” and take home messages, are tested through front-end evaluations. Students interview both museum visitors and non-visitors to get feedback about thematic knowledge and misconceptions, and ranking their level of interest in exhibit themes. This gives the students a good idea of where to start and some data to insert in the next project, the exhibit design brief.
All of the assigned projects are not only graded by the instructor, they are also reviewed by the client (museum director). Other HA faculty members are also involved as content experts who consult with the students as well as review label copy. Students sometimes have difficulty with the fact that the client has the last word on design and content matters. We all have to learn that the good of the project comes before any design components or intellectual content we may have a personal investment in.
The design brief is one of the end products of the planning phase and the starting point for the design process. It serves as a position paper of what the exhibition planners have in mind and provides a firm base from which to launch the design process. It is a working document that ensures that future activities are in keeping with the original intention, or if there is change, that it is agreed to by all team members and the client. The brief includes things like the identification of specific problems to be solved, design opportunities and constraints, exhibit benefits, the point of view or voice of the exhibit, educational goals and objectives, and a bubble diagram to link subjects and ideas conceptually.
Once the client has signed off the Design Brief, we begin the Design Stage of the process. Some of those activities include producing preliminary labels, schematic design, first draft of label copy, preliminary materials list and budget, final selection of artifacts, floor plan and elevation drawings, and exhibit walk through. I will be discussing those in my next blog.