Designing Exhibitions

Whether a world fair, an art gallery, a museum or trade show, all exhibitions deal with the same basic commodities, objects and informative space. The skill of the exhibition designer lies in using suitable techniques to ensure that the objects are explained in an accessible way to the widest audience. This guide deals with the whole range of exhibition design, describing both people and processes involved in briefing, mounting, maintaining and evaluating exhibitions. It provides the essential principles of designing an exhibition, whatever its nature and size, and serves as an introduction for the non-specialist and a guide to good practice for students and professionals alike.

Graphic Design in Museum Exhibitions offers an in-depth analysis of the multiple roles that exhibition graphics perform in contemporary museums and exhibitions. Drawing on a study of exhibitions that took place at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Museum of London and the Haus der Geschichte, Bonn, Piehl brings together approaches from museum studies, design practice and narrative theory to examine museum exhibitions as multimodal narratives in which graphics account for one set of narrative resources. The analysis underlines the importance of aspects such as accessibility and at the same time problematises conceptualisations that focus only on the effectiveness of graphics as display device, by drawing attention to the contributions that graphics make towards the content on display and to the ways in which it is experienced in the museum space. Graphic Design in Museum Exhibitions argues for a critical reading of and engagement with exhibition graphic design as part of wider debates around meaning-making in museum studies and exhibition-making practice. As such, the book should be essential reading for academics, researchers and students from the fields of museum and design studies. Practitioners such as exhibition designers, graphic designers, curators and other exhibition makers should also find much to interest them in the book.

“This is a must-read for the nervous novice as well as theworld-weary veteran. The book guides you through every aspect ofexhibit making, from concept to completion. The say the devil is inthe details, but so is the divine. This carefully crafted tomehelps you to avoid the pitfalls in the process, so you can have funcreating something inspirational. It perfectly supports thedictum—if you don’t have fun making an exhibit, thevisitor won’t have fun using it.” —Jeff Hoke, Senior Exhibit Designer at Monterey BayAquarium and Author of The Museum of LostWonder Structured around the key phases of the exhibition design process,this guide offers complete coverage of the tools and processesrequired to develop successful exhibitions. Intended to appeal tothe broad range of stakeholders in any exhibition design process,the book offers this critical information in the context of acollaborative process intended to drive innovation for exhibitiondesign. It is indispensable reading for students and professionalsin exhibit design, graphic design, environmental design, industrialdesign, interior design, and architecture.

Millions of people visit exhibitions of one sort or another every year. This work offers a better understanding of the complexity of exhibition design as a discipline, by exploring the role of the exhibition designer as a creative practitioner.

'What is Exhibition Design?' provides a stunning, diverse portfolio of cutting-edge work from designers and studios around the world. Like the other titles in this series, this book will be essential reading for every professional and student involved with exhibition design.

How to turn an exhibition into an experience - an analytical, structured and attractively illustrated guide for designers. An exhibition does not fascinate us purely through the presence of exhibited objects, but through the opportunity it gives us to make our own discoveries. Communication, education, experience and contemplation interact productively and dynamically. This book shows the preliminary stages of exhibitions from the designer's perspective. Topics include the presentation and staging of exhibitions, displays and education, texts, graphics, typography and layout, lighting and acoustics. Sketches, diagrams, and plans of wall arrangements, installations, collections, and models in appropriate scales and photos of realised projects are used to illustrate the process. Bertron Schwarz Frey/Group for Design (Berlin and Schwabisch Gmund) rank among the leading German offices of visual communication, museography and exhibition design. Amongst their projects are the Science Centre in Bremen, the natural,history museum in Berlin, and temporary exhibitions for the Germany's Haus der Geschichte foundation.

The way in which the contemporary exhibition is designed is fast changing - previously aloof cultural institutions are making use of technologies and techniques more commonly associated with film and retail. Exhibition Design features a wide variety of examples from around the world, from major trade and commerce fairs, to well-known fine art institutions, to small-scale artist-designed displays. An introduction gives a historical perspective on the development of exhibitions and museums. The first part of the book covers the conceptual themes of narrative space, performative space and simulated experience and the second the practical concerns of display, lighting, colour, sound and graphics. Throughout are photographs, drawings and diagrams of exhibitions, including the work of such internationally renowned architects and designers as Ralph Appelbaum Associates, Atelier Bruckner, Casson Mann, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Imagination, METStudio and Jean Nouvel.

Great exhibits are never an accident. Planning effective exhibits is a demanding process that requires the designer to consider many different aspects and navigate numerous pitfalls while moving a project from concept to reality. In Museum Exhibition Planning and Design, Elizabeth Bogle offers a comprehensive introduction and reference to exhibition planning and design. This book focuses on both the procedural elements of successful planning, like the phases of exhibit design and all associated tasks and issues, and on the design elements that make up the realized exhibit itself, such as color, light, shape, form, space, and building materials. This helpful guide includes: Breakdown of the design and development project phases used by professional planner/designers Principles of good design as they pertain to: color, light, shape, form, space, line, balance, accent, rhythm, proportion, and scale Criteria to evaluate an exhibit and measure its success Discussion of construction contracts and procedures Discussion of building materials and their advantages and disadvantages Glossary of museum and design terms for easy reference Bogle has translated her years of experience as an exhibition planner into a guide for practitioners of all sizes and levels of experience. For the solo practitioner, perhaps working with limited or no staff in a small institution, Bogle walks through every task that will be faced as the project develops. For the staff member of a larger institution or firm, this book serves as a checklist, reinforcing the instruction that comes from peers and previous experience. Museum Exhibition Planning and Design is a useful tool for anyone interested in or involved in bringing their exhibits to life.