Secrets of the Exhibit Builders

Ian Simmons

At the BIG Event, during the evaluation session, a variety of problem exhibits were shown which would have been improved by evaluation, and while this was certainly so, some of the exhibit builders in the audience pointed out that a number of the problems could have been predicted from experience. Out of this discussion it became clear that lots of people have their own "rules of thumb" which help them avoid conceptual and operational problems when building exhibits, but which have only really been passed on by word of mouth.

The reason for this seems to be that the people who know this sort of thing are fairly unlikely to want to set up the sort of detailed studies that the visitor studies journals most appropriate for publishing such information require. So, to try and help fill the information gap I've asked a variety of experienced exhibit builders to suggest their key "rules of thumb", and summarise them here.

What Exhibit Builders Do

When developing an exhibit, thinking in terms of creating something for people to explore, rather than something to put a point over, tends to lead to a more satisfying and communicative result.

Don't try and make an exhibit do too much - adding extra options, bells and whistles confuses people instead of enriching the experience. Stick to providing one experience well, save the other options for separate exhibits.

Try and make an exhibit intuitive - People usually don't read the labels first, a good interactive is simple enough so that people don't need to be told what to do first. If it has an intuitiveness that makes people "noodle around" and achieve different effects it enriches the user's experience

Don't make a meal of prototyping an exhibit, otherwise you lose sight of why you are doing it. Keep the end in sight and ditch it if it is not working - there is no shame in a good idea turning out to be impractical to build, that's what prototyping should be finding out

When prototyping an exhibit, try and solve problems by making things simpler rather than adding another bolt-on unit. The temptation is to get ever more complex, ending up with an exhibit which is so constrained in its operation and has so many things which could go wrong that it is both unpopular and evil to maintain.

It is tempting to try and make an exhibit "bulletproof" by putting working parts in a case and limiting people's interaction to pulling a lever or pressing a button in the hope it will make it maintenance-free. Usually this not only bores the user, but often increases maintenance problems. An open design which can be easily fixed is far more satisfying.

Think FRAME, SUB-FRAME, SUB-UNIT when designing exhibits. Imagine a broken-down part needs to be air-freighted or the exhibit needs to be transported. It also makes on-gallery maintenance a lot easier

Use a minimum number of screws to secure things in place and make sure there are generous sized spaces through which to gain access to an exhibit's innards. This can make the difference between a quick fix on gallery and taking an exhibit off the floor for several days.

Use consistent fixers on all exhibits, that way staff need only carry round a couple of allen keys instead of an armoury of screwdrivers in order to do maintenance.

Beware things which look like interface controls. Prominent rivets, bright knob-like fixers, lights which look like buttons etc all confuse users who will enthusiastically press them and pull them, at best ending up baffled, at worst breaking the exhibit.

Beware reset mechanisms. If an exhibit has to pause to reset itself it can make users think they have broken it or done something wrong. Ideally, an exhibit should only reset after it has been untouched for 3 or 4 minutes.

Filters on fans etc get clogged in no time and reduce efficiency. If you must have them make them accessible and carry plenty of spares. Use open grills rather than fine meshes for air inlets, meshes swiftly felt up with hair and fluff

If an exhibit includes water which people can put their hands in, don't underestimate the amount of "customer residue" (shed skin) they'll leave behind and make sure you have included a way of dealing with it - filters clog too quickly to be really useful.

Polycarbonate absorbs up to 5% water, which its specs don't tell you, so any exhibit with polycarbonate tanks will swell and distort over time unless steps are taken to prevent this.

To get the height right for children, get the fabricator to try it out while kneeling down.

Thoroughly check any finished exhibit for finger pinching zones before putting it out on the floor

Labels should be obvious. Even though label reading is usually a last resort, labels should be clearly visible. They need to be no more than 0.5m from the exhibit, and ideally should be on the exhibit, and should be in the users line of sight both when they are using the exhibit and when they are approaching it.

Remember - somebody has to maintain the exhibits, and it could be you

Be prepared to scrap an exhibit at any time, even once it is on the floor. Keeping a duff exhibit on the gallery does no one any favours.

Next issue I will continue with a look at "What visitors do", in the meantime, if you have any of your own "Rules of Thumb" you'd like to share - please write to BIG News with them.

My thanks to Steve Pizzey, Roger Coleman, Paul Orselli and Claire Pilsbury for providing me with their thoughts on this topic and most especially to Andy Lloyd for providing the papers "Everything we currently know about making visitor-friendly mechanical interactives" and "Visitor use of computer exhibits" written for the Science Museum Visitor Studies Group.

Newsletter Autumn 1999 Contents

News and reviews > From the Chair | Seminars explaining Centres for Curiosity and Imagination | Exploratory closes |

BIG Event 1999 reports > BIG Event report | Shows at the BIG Event

Exhibitions > Mathamazing from Questacon

Exhibit Development > The science of shopping - what can it tell us about exhibits? | The Mind Machine - Interactive ESP? | Everyday Chemistry exhibits at London Science Museum | Secrets of the exhibit builders | Project report: Technical Museum of Vienna