How do you share your museum’s data? Charts? Lists? Memos? Newsletters? Why don’t you turn all that delightful data into an infographic and… Organize your information in logical and attention-grabbing ways Simplify how you define and describe yourself Embrace color! Share the results of a survey in a new way Market an upcoming event or…
How do people see images of your institution? Your website? Promotional flyers? Other people’s vacation photos? Are the images ordinary? Beautiful? Edgy? What mood, tone, and attitude do they convey? Is it the one you want? What if you design a museum lookbook and… Show off your museum from a new angle? Use evocative images to…
How do you tell your community about your exhibits? Are you opening a new exhibit? Do you have an existing exhibit you want more people to visit? What if you create an exhibit trailer and… Preview your new exhibit to the world? Re-envision and remind visitors of the great exhibit you already have? Make something busy and exciting? Quiet…
I’ve been to a lot of quiet museums lately. Is your museum quiet? Does it need to be? What if you… Create soundscapes in your spaces? Urban sounds? Nature sounds? Other languages? Play music in the galleries and exhibits? Different styles on different days? Create harmonious experiences? Create cacophonous experiences? Create musical audio tours? No…
Last month, Jaunty Dame (one of my favorite blogs on the interwebs) gave her answer to the question,“What books would you like to read that don’t exist?” and I’ve been thinking about the idea ever since. Her suggestions are excellent (YES to the George Martin book), and so is the question. I’d love to see a…
Phylogenetic trees. I love you almost as much as dichotomous keys…almost. Like most charts and graphs, phyogenetic trees aren’t big interpretive hits in museums. The fault isn’t that the information is boring – evolution is about as amazing and awe-inspiring as it gets (for this bio-nerd, anyway). The problem is that the information is too interesting.…
Are you all subscribed to The Brain Scoop? Excellent, I thought so! This fantastic behind-the-scenes look into the Phillip L. Wright Zoological Museum is nostalgic for all of us who have actually used a brain scoop (ah, memories), and super-interesting for everyone else. An oldie but a goodie: Stuff Museum People Say. “Bleed away from…
This week I’ve had the pleasure of getting a sneak peek of a chapter from Lynda Norris and Rainey Tisdale’s manuscript on Museums & Creative Practice. That thought-provoking reading, coupled with another creativity-focused project I’m preparing for, reminded me of a draft post I started back in March, 2012 but never finished. Since there’s no…
The articles, resources, places and ideas I enjoyed this week. The Smithsonian has a fashion blog. Museums + clothing, it’s like peanut butter and chocolate all over again. Since moving to Germany, I’ve encountered the national obsession with hazelnuts. So it’s no surprise that a German artist is creating installations from hazelnut pollen. The library…
I didn’t plan to, but I wrote an interpretive program for my wedding. For a day that involved military background checks, milkshakes, trivia competitions and a surprise pinata, it just seemed like a good idea. While most people know what to expect at a wedding, our was just different enough that guidelines and cues to…
Museums Askew 