Deb Sovinee and Lynn Baum. This was for a Pecha Kucha Night at the New England Museum Association conference: 20 slides for only 20 seconds each, slides advance automatically.

1. Deborah Sovinee and Lynn Baum

2. Last year I visited the Apartheid museum in South Africa. From this slide the design of the
entrance gives us the impression of entering a subway or some other dark place. The brick
wall and metal turnstiles are devoid of direction, telling us nothing about what to expect once
we go inside.

3. With the addition of just a couple of words above each door the experience changes
completely. Entering the museum now becomes a personal and emotional experience. We
have to choose an entrance, being forced to participate in a divisive sorting system – setting
the stage for what is to come inside.

4. A long empty wall can pose all kinds of design challenges. How should the space be divided?
How do we want to direct the eye? How do we make it feel like a cohesive grouping instead of
a set of scattered images? In this example the wall is not connected to the rest of the room.

5. With attention to size, color and space, a large expanse can become a focal point and a way to
tie the entire space together. The grouping actually now includes the furniture beneath it,
creating a cohesive unit. The eye can focus on the photographs as a group, and enables each
image to stand out more easily.

6. Creating an exhibit icon without using any words can be a great way to capture attention, but
it needs to be done carefully so that key points are emphasized.
Here, a young girl is ready to demonstrate Galileo’s famous ball drop experiment under the
watchful eye of her mom. To understand the law of physics that is being presented it is
important to notice that there are two balls of different sizes in the girl’s hands.

7. Without noticing the difference between those two balls the point of the sculpture is lost. A
little bit of color goes a long way against the gray bodies. Now the visual point is much more
obvious – two balls of different sizes, when dropped from the same height will land at the same
time

8. A workshop designed to get girls excited about science. Using collections, the girls began by
creating exhibits and labels. First draft labels - not so exciting with white file cards and ball
point pens.

9. The treat comes in the form of color. For the final label the girls were offered a variety of gel
pens in many hues and day-glo file cards to help them get their words across. The level of
excitement rose as they chose their pens and cards – each selection saying something about
themselves and their work.

10. A familiar site– the drain-pipe or downspout. We see them stuck on the sides and corners of all
kinds of structures. Its function is important but we often try to hide its presence by blending
it into a building.

11. What if we put it in the spotlight? Mundane off-the-shelf chain changes the look from
functional to art, creating the effect of a waterfall as rain flows through. In this example the
rain runs into a trough that recycles the collected water for this roof-top garden at a civic
center.

12. A stand-alone activity in an exhibit called “ Making Models” asks visitors to select a topic and
draw it. The challenge was to find a medium that was manageable for visitors and that
required very little maintenance from staff. The first attempt – pipe cleaners did not measure
up. They were difficult to use and messy to maintain

13. A second attempt simplified the activity with the use of magnet boards and metal bead chains.
Cutting off the ends of the beads allowed visitors to create all kinds of pictures and
discouraged anyone from walking away with them. The end result – easy to maintain and fun!

14. Traditional dioramas have always had appeal. Creating a small slice of the world with careful
detail can be fascinating to observe. But they are a totally visually experience, limiting to
many

15. By adding touch, sound and scents the experience becomes richer for everyone. These
dioramas at the Museum of Science in Boston provides access to all visitors regardless of any
physical or learning limitations.

16. We now have a feast of fonts at our disposal . How do we choose?
We can affect the impact of what we write without changing a word. The fonts we chose
become the voice we want to match our words. But, which voice? Serious? Confident? or
Humorous?

17. Working with middle school children to create panels for a garden exhibit on bio- diversity led
to a discussion about universal design. The students were very proud of their work – they had
spent quite a bit a time laying out their ideas in a very colorful array.
The problem; many of us, including those with older eyes, were straining to read it.

18. Working with middle school children to create panels for a garden exhibit on bio- diversity led
to a discussion about universal design. The students were very proud of their work – they had
spent quite a bit a time laying out their ideas in a very colorful array.
The problem; many of us, including those with older eyes, were straining to read it.

19. Functional and ubiquitous – words that describe lots of things we come across in our daily
lives. Often these are items we never even see – a styrene cup, can be just one more piece of
trash, and not a particularly compostable one at that.

20. But with a different eye suddenly the potential to create a piece a small piece of art appears.
Delicate carvings create intricate faces and suddenly the mundane and tossed aside becomes
a work of art.

21. Sometimes what we do not notice makes all the difference. Just a couple of letters out of
place created a huge change in the meaning of a key label for a collections-based exhibit.
The mistake was eventually corrected although there are still some who think it is exactly
what the curator intended….