Museum Interpretation: Exhibits and their Captions

1. Museum Interpretation: Exhibits and their Captions Laurel Casjens Utah Office of Museum Services lcasjens@utah.gov

2. What makes a good interpretive exhibit? • The Big Idea: The major theme or story • Well written information • Visually appealing • Interesting objects • Well laid out/organized • Encourages exploration • Visitor is comfortable

3. Planning an Exhibit • Form an Exhibit Team • Identify the Big Idea (the story) • Organize the layout • Choose objects that tell your story • Display in a safe and attractive manner • Write captions or labels telling your story • Evaluate throughout • Who are your visitors? • Do they understand and are they interested?

4. The Big Idea • One Sentence that tells what the Exhibit is about (identifies the story) • Identifysubthemes • Reflects what you want visitors to learn and retain • Creates a cohesive whole to which everything in the exhibition relates

5. Visually Appealing • Clean • Not crowded • Colors are not overwhelming • Light enough to see; some objects can be spotlighted • Props (but need to be subdued)

6. Interesting ObjectsWell Laid out and Organized • Tell their story • Don’t crowd them • Arrange by some criterion that helps you tell their story • People want to understand what they are seeing

7. Encourages Exploration • Exhibit has learning objective, impacts visitors • Room for visitors to look at items together • Additional information available • Hands on, multimedia, etc.

8. Visitor is comfortable • Signage tells where things are • Restrooms, Layout if not obvious • Labels are easy to read • There is room to gather together to look at exhibits • Enough light to see • Temperature is comfortable • Places to sit

9. Captions • Captions tell the story (The Big Idea and all the sub themes and details that make the story interesting) • Must be easy to read • Need to make sense regardless of the order in which they are read

10. Types of Captions • Main Exhibition Title • Introductory Label • Case Titles • Group Labels • Caption Labels • Object Details

11. Exhibition Title • 3-8 words • May have subtitle • Should reflect the Big Idea—give people some idea of what the exhibit is about • Evaluate: make sure potential visitors can figure out what you mean

12. Case Title • 3-8 words • May have subtitle • What is the story/purpose of this case

13. Introductory Label • 20-300 Words • Introduce the Big Idea and add an overview • Orient visitors to space (if needed)

14. Group Labels • 20 to 150 Words • Subtheme: story told by the exhibit case or by a group of objects • Start label with information about objects. • Then relate these objects to the Big Idea

15. Caption Labels • 20-150 words • Interpret individual objects/illustrations • Start by talking about the objects • Then relate to Big Idea

16. Object Details • 10-20 words • What Object is, material, use, donor, date of donation, etc. • Should all be consistent in form and order • Placed next to object (numbered lists much harder to read)

17. Writing • Use simple, clear language • Active sentences are more compelling • Vary length of sentences and paragraphs • Make chunks of text

18. Content • Start with object and move to Big Idea • Restrict text to important ideas • Make sure facts are correct

19. Placing Captions • Captions shouldn’t harm objects • No pins through textiles • No high-acid paper directly on objects • No scotch tape, tacks, staples etc. attached to object

20. Fonts • Choose one that is easy to Read • Can be serif (Times Roman – T g y l) • or sans-serif (Arial –T g y l) • Use Bold only in Titles • Use only small amounts of Italic • Use limited number of fonts

21. Use a Simple Font

22. Color ColorColorColor • Use large contrast between letters and paper • Don’t use opposite colors • Don’t use a busy background • Can use different colors for different types of captions • Voice • Group labels vs. object descriptions

23. White on Yellow is bad

24. Blue on red is bad

25. Black on Blue is Bad

26. Back Ground too Busy

28. This is Way Too Large

29. Edit and Evaluate • Edit and Edit again; cut out ALL unneeded text • Evaluate; have people who are not part of the museum read the text to see if they understand it and find it interesting

30. Placing Captions • Captions shouldn’t harm objects • No pins through textiles • No high-acid paper directly on objects • No scotch tape, tacks, staples etc. attached to object

31. Preparing CaptionsHands on

32. Equipment and Supplies • Computer and Printer • Paper–pastel or earth tone, not flimsy • Mounting board • Spray Mount (permanent—not repositional) • Heavy ruler • Mat Cutter (mounted or hand held) OR • Exacto Knife

33. Print Caption • Shape like a block, not a line • Print several on one sheet--Leave 2 inches between them • Put a box around them if you want—about 1/3 inch for small, more for large labels • Minimum size about 3” x 1.5”

34. Mounting Board • Use 4 ply acid free mount board (cut with mat cutter) or • Foam Core (cut with exacto knife) • Mounting board should be larger than paper with captions

35. Mount paper to board • Spray Mount (well ventilated space) • Shake up spray mount • Place label paper on newspaper (face down) • Coat paper evenly with spray • Hit edges • Don’t Glop • Place paper on board—Two people—one lays it from one side and other flattens (rubs) with cotton gloves or roller • Or use dry mount press and dry mount tissue • Leave extra space around paper (especially foam core) • Put under weight for a few hours

36. Trimming • Leave more space for larger labels • If you printed a box, you will cut inside the box

37. Bevel Cut (mat cutter) • Use mat cutter so angle leads to outside • Use 4 ply mat board • This is opposite normal mat cutting)

38. Vertical Cut: Exacto knife • Exacto knife along a heavy ruler or • Mounted straight cutter • Foam Core cuts easily; mat board is also ok