23 Top Tips on how to create great Museum Exhibition Design experiences.

Updated January 2024

1. Shopping list; Create a shopping list of what you have to offer the visitor & and then prioritise their importance.
2. Special factor: What’s going to make your museum/museum exhibition or art gallery different from all the others?
3. Space available: Calculate the exhibition space you have available for each storyline or exhibit, especially important for travelling exhibitions where the space and configuration of space will change from venue to venue.
4. Access: Provide DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) requirements for access into your building, galleries, museum exhibition spaces, facilities and all exhibits.
5. Design team: It is essential to have the right team working on the project, curators, conservation, museum designers, and lighting designers need to gel if something special is to be created.
6. Conservation: What conservation issues do you need to consider for each exhibit? (see the LinkedIn article on conservation lighting design)
7. Flexibility: Build in a level of flexibility for the future, who knows how things might change.
8. Low-tech inter-actives: Provides fun experience, doesn’t break down as often as high tech and due to the low cost allows more stations for people to interact at the same time.
9. High-tech inter-actives: One of the most expensive elements but can be worth it if you have the budget, but certainly not essential if on a low budget.
10. Apps: Everything with Apps seems to be the case these days. How smartphone and iPhone-friendly will your exhibition be?
11. Content: Provide varying levels of information to appeal to different audiences and school curricula where possible.
12. Bring to life: Nothing beats a personal tour with a curator who tells you a little about each object as you pass by, however, that’s not possible so you need to use other means to engage the visitor with the storylines.
13. Eye candy: The information should be appealing to the eye, drawing the visitor in.
14. Curiosity factor: You can make the mundane look so much more appealing if you handle the curiosity factor well; think of the launch of a new car when they show you a little corner detail before the big unveiling.
15. Size: Vary the size of each gallery or space to imply for example; importance, and intimacy. This also helps the visitor break down the information provided.
16. Languages: Which languages will you provide?
17. Signage & path-finding: People need to be able to navigate easily, think about using colours, and easy to remember symbols.
18. Lighting: There cannot be enough importance placed on good lighting design as it can make or destroy your whole project.
19. Visitor flow: Do you want your visitors to be like mice in a maze and follow your set pattern, or do you adopt the freedom-to-wander approach?
20. Ambient Noise: Control unwanted ambient noise with the choice of the right materials.
21. Eco: Consider all the impacts your exhibition will have on the environment and how you might reduce these.
22. Maintenance: How will your exhibition stand up to the rigours of life?
23. Security: Last but not least a very important part of the museum exhibit design process.