What Fixing Broken Exhibits Has Taught Me About Smart Design

Let me paint you a picture. It's Tuesday morning, and the school groups are due to arrive in an hour. Your star interactive exhibit—the one that took six months to design and three months to build—is making that clicking sound again. You know, the one that means "expensive repair visit" in exhibit language.

Meanwhile, that simple wooden flip-book station you built as a "temporary" solution five years ago? Still going strong, still engaging visitors, and the only maintenance it needs is occasionally tightening a screw.

After four decades of watching exhibits live, die, and get resurrected more times than a soap opera character, I've learned that maintenance-friendly design isn't about dumbing things down—it's about respecting the brutal realities of public use.

The Immortals: Exhibits That Refuse to Die

Simple Mechanical Interactives: Hand cranks, pulleys, lever systems, rotating drums. These workhorses continue to operate effectively because they utilize principles that have proven successful since the Industrial Revolution. When they break, any competent handy person can fix them.

Magnetic Systems: Those "build your own molecule" exhibits with magnetic atoms? Nearly indestructible. Drop-proof and child-proof, with the only moving parts being the magnetic pieces themselves.

 

Gravity-Fed Demonstrations: Ball runs, catapults, pendulums. Physics does the work, not motors. When something goes wrong, it's usually obvious and can be easily fixed.

The Universal Laws of Exhibit Entropy

Law #1: If It Can Be Touched, It Will Be Touched Incorrectly

Design for the visitor who will push when they should pull, lean when they should stand, and somehow find the one way to use your exhibit that you never imagined.

Smart design response: Make the "wrong" way to interact either impossible or harmless. You can't push in the wrong direction if the mechanism only moves one way.

Law #2: Children Are Tiny Engineers of Destruction

Not maliciously—they're just incredibly effective at finding failure points. They apply force in unexpected directions, use exhibits as climbing equipment, and have an uncanny ability to separate components you thought were permanently attached.

Smart design response: If a six-year-old can break it, assume they will. Design accordingly.

Law #3: The Most Popular Exhibits Wear Out Fastest

Success breeds its own problems. That hands-on station that everyone loves? It's getting 10x the use you planned for.

Smart design response: Build for 5x your projected traffic, then add safety margins.

Law #4: Complex Repairs Happen at the Worst Possible Times

Murphy's Law applies doubly to museum exhibits. The touchscreen will fail right before the VIP donor tour.

Smart design response: Design for graceful degradation. When part of the exhibit fails, the rest should still function.

The Modular Mindset

Think Lego, not sculpture. Design exhibits as systems of replaceable components rather than integrated artworks.

 

Component Accessibility: Can you reach every part that might need maintenance without dismantling half the exhibit? If not, redesign.

Standard Fasteners: Use screws and bolts that are readily available at any hardware store. Avoid proprietary connectors that require special orders from manufacturers who might not exist in five years.

 

Diagnostic Simplicity: When something stops working, can a non-expert quickly identify the problem? Visual indicators, clear troubleshooting steps, and logical component organization save countless hours.

The Long Game

Maintenance-friendly design isn't about creating boring exhibits—it's about creating exhibits that can continue to engage visitors year after year. The most innovative interactive in the world is useless if it's broken half the time.

The goal isn't to eliminate maintenance, but to make it predictable, manageable, and affordable. Design exhibits that age like fine wine, not like forgotten leftovers.

Visitors don't care how clever your engineering is—they care that the exhibit works when they want to engage with it. Design for reliability, and the innovation will take care of itself.

What's your most maintenance-friendly exhibit success story? Or your biggest maintenance nightmare that taught you valuable lessons? Share your war stories in the "Comments" Section below—we can all learn from each other's triumphs and disasters.

 

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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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Can AI Be Your Museum Brainstorming Buddy?

Let's be honest: we've all been there. It's 3 PM on a Tuesday, and you're staring at a blank concept document, with your brain feeling like it's been replaced with cotton candy. The client wants "something interactive about local history that appeals to all ages and doesn't cost more than a decent used car."

Your internal monologue goes something like: Interactive... history... families... budget... HELP.

Enter your new creative partner: AI. 

No, it won't replace your brilliant human insights (thank goodness), but it might just save you from that deer-in-headlights moment when inspiration decides to take an extended lunch break.

The Brainstorm Before the Brainstorm

Here's the thing about AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude: they're like that friend who's read everything, remembers everything, and never gets tired of your "what if we tried..." questions. The secret sauce isn't asking AI to design your exhibit for you—it's using it to unstick your creative gears.

Instead of: "Design an exhibit about butterflies." Try: "I need 15 unexpected angles for approaching butterfly conservation that would surprise visitors who think they know everything about butterflies."

Boom. Suddenly, you're not just talking about metamorphosis (again). You're exploring butterfly migration as climate data, butterfly wing patterns as inspiration for solar panel efficiency, or the economic impact of pollinator decline on local agriculture.

Journey Mapping: Your Visitor's GPS

 Remember when we used to draw visitor journey maps on napkins and hope for the best? AI can help you think through the emotional rollercoaster your visitors are about to experience—before you build the actual rollercoaster.

Try this prompt: "Map the emotional journey of a skeptical teenager being dragged through an exhibit about [your topic]. What are their pain points, potential engagement moments, and what would make them actually tell their friends about it?"

The AI might suggest that your skeptical teen initially rolls their eyes at the entrance, gets grudgingly intrigued by a hands-on station, feels genuinely surprised by an unexpected connection to their world, and leaves with one concrete thing to think about. That's a roadmap for your design decisions.

The "Yes, And..." Partner

AI excels at the improv comedy rule of "yes, and..."—it builds on your ideas instead of shutting them down. Having a creative block about how to make 18th-century farming techniques relevant to urban kids?

You: "What if we connected historical farming to modern urban gardening?"

AI: "Yes, and what if visitors could compare the efficiency of colonial crop rotation with vertical farming techniques, using the same square footage?"

You: "And they could actually plant something to take home..."

AI: "And track their plant's growth against historical weather data from the same region..."

Suddenly, you've an exhibit that bridges centuries, connects to current sustainability concerns, and provides visitors with a lasting takeaway.

Pro Tips for AI Collaboration

Be specific with context: "I'm designing for a 200-square-foot space in a children's museum with a $15K budget and weekly school groups of 25 kids" gets you better suggestions than "design something for kids."

Ask for alternatives: "Give me 5 completely different ways to teach this concept" will stretch your thinking beyond your first idea.

Play devil's advocate: "What would a museum visitor who hates technology think about this exhibit?" helps you design for all your audiences.

Get granular: "What should visitors be thinking, feeling, and doing in the first 30 seconds of this experience?" forces specificity.

The Human Touch (Still Required)

Here's what AI can't do: understand your specific community, navigate your institution's politics, or know that your facilities manager has strong opinions about anything that plugs into the wall. It can't feel the energy of your space, or know that Mrs. Henderson brings her third-grade class every October, and they always ask about dinosaurs, even in the art gallery.

AI is your museum brainstorming accelerator, not your replacement. 

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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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"Stealing" Ideas from Everyone. What Apple Stores, Airports, and Playgrounds Can Teach Museums About Visitor Experience.

Here's a confession: some of my best exhibit ideas have come from places that have nothing to do with museums. That breakthrough wayfinding solution? Inspired by IKEA's store layout. The interactive that finally got teenagers engaged? I borrowed the concept from a skateboard shop in Portland.

Museum professionals sometimes act like we're the only industry that cares about visitor experience, but the truth is, we're surrounded by brilliant design solutions just waiting to be adapted. The question isn't whether to "borrow" ideas from other industries—it's how to "steal" smartly.

The Great Idea Heist: Where to Look

Retail: The Masters of "Just One More Thing"

Walk through any well-designed store, and you'll see visitor flow management that puts most museums to shame. Retailers have spent billions figuring out how to guide people through spaces, create desire, and encourage exploration.

What They Do Right:

• Sight lines that draw you deeper: You can always see something interesting ahead.

• Clear navigation without being obvious: You know where you are and where you're going.

• Strategic placement of "impulse" experiences: High-interest items at decision points.

• Varied pacing: Busy areas followed by calm spaces, creating rhythm.

Museum Takeaway: That "featured artifact" placement at the end of your gallery hallway? Pure retail psychology. Visitors see it from the entrance and naturally move toward it, encountering your other content along the way.

Theme Parks: Emotional Journey Architects

Disney didn't invent storytelling, but they perfected the art of emotional pacing in physical spaces. Every step of a Theme Park experience is choreographed to build anticipation, deliver a payoff, and leave you wanting more.

What They Do Right:

• Line design that's part of the experience: The wait becomes preparation for the main event.

• Layered storytelling: Multiple levels of detail for different types of visitors.

• Transition spaces: Clear beginnings, middles, and ends to experiences.

• Multi-sensory immersion: Sound, smell, temperature, and lighting work together.

Museum Takeaway: Your exhibit entrance isn't just a doorway—it's the opening scene of your story. What if you treated it like the loading area of a theme park ride, building anticipation for what's coming?

Playground Design: The Physics of Fun

Playground designers are brilliant experience architects. They create spaces that encourage specific behaviors, accommodate different ages and abilities, and somehow make parents want to linger while kids are completely absorbed.

What They Do Right:

• Multiple difficulty levels in one space: Challenging for experts, accessible for beginners.

• Natural supervision points: Parents can watch from comfortable positions.

• Flow that prevents bottlenecks: Multiple paths to the same destinations.

• Materials that age gracefully: Built to withstand weather and heavy use.

Museum Takeaway: That hands-on science station where kids naturally help each other figure things out? That's playground psychology at work—creating spaces where collaboration happens organically.

Other Industry-Specific Lessons That Translate to Museums

From Coffee Shops: The Art of Comfortable Lingering

The Lesson: Different seating for different social configurations (solo work, couples, small groups, large gatherings)

Museum Translation: Create varied spaces within your galleries—standing height for quick interactions, comfortable seating for deeper engagement, communal areas for group discussions.

From Bookstores: Discovery by Wandering

The Lesson: Mix of organization and serendipity—you can find what you're looking for, but you'll stumble across things you didn't know you wanted.

Museum Translation: Clear thematic organization with unexpected connections and cross-references that reward exploration.

From Restaurants: Pacing and Appetite

The Lesson: Building anticipation, managing expectations, and knowing when people need a break from intense experiences.

Museum Translation: Heavy content followed by lighter interactions, complex ideas broken up with hands-on activities, and "palate cleansers" between intense emotional experiences.

From Hotels: Creating Immediate Atmosphere

The Lesson: Great hotel lobbies establish mood and expectations within seconds of entry. They tell you what kind of experience you're about to have.

Museum Translation: Your lobby and entrance sequence should immediately communicate your museum's personality and prepare visitors for your content.

Permission to Experiment

Museums sometimes suffer from "museum-ness"—the assumption that we have to look and feel like "traditional" museums. But your visitors don't live in museums. They live in a world of retail spaces, entertainment venues, and public spaces that have evolved sophisticated approaches to human experience design.

Your visitors' expectations are shaped by the best customer experiences they have anywhere, not just in other museums. If Starbucks has figured out how to make waiting in line a pleasant experience, we can learn from that. If IKEA can guide people through a complex warehouse while making it feel like an adventure, maybe we can too.

Great ideas don't care about industry boundaries. The principles that make a bookstore browsable, a playground engaging, or a restaurant memorable can make your museum more effective.

Your next breakthrough exhibit idea might be waiting for you at the grocery store, the airport, or that well-designed playground down the street. Keep your eyes open—inspiration is everywhere!

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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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Where's Your Workshop?

It used to be that every museum had an "exhibits workshop." An unsettling trend (to me at least) is the continuing wave of museums that have deliberately left exhibit workshops (staff access, not visitor access spaces) out of the mix.

Can any museum that features interactive exhibits, or really any type of exhibits, ever really become great (as opposed to just good) without some sort of workshop?

I don't think every museum needs a full cabinet-making workshop with full welding capabilities and a paint booth. But if you don't have at least one place with a bench and basic tools to tinker, prototype, or simply pull broken exhibits off the floor while you repair them, can your museum's exhibit program ever live up to its full potential? 

Workshop spaces build and increase your museum's internal capacity and create a tremendous staff feeling of "ownership." Especially as it relates to "We Built That Here" exhibits and the entire exhibit development process.

If you don't have a funky space to create and explore exhibit ideas, your museum will inevitably cede some (or all!) of this critical exhibit development process and skill set to outsiders. 

And outsiders, including many architects with exhibit developer aspirations, are often the ones most responsible for eliminating workshop spaces from new building plans. If your designers and architects don't provide you with a workshop space that offers convenient loading and unloading access to the outdoors, they are putting you and your museum at a disadvantage from the start.

I'll never forget a visit a few years ago to a beautiful new children's museum. After walking around the space with the Director of Exhibits, I innocently asked to see the "exhibits workshop." He ushered me into a small rectangular office with a desk and chair wedged into the far end. One entire remaining length of wall was lined with deep shelves holding the cans for the 26 (or more!) different colors of paint that the architects had used throughout the building. I was dumbfounded. 

I asked, "Where do you build new exhibits?" The answer: "We don't build new exhibits. We just hire other people to build them for us." Then I asked, "What happens if an exhibit breaks?" The answer: "Most of the time, we just put an 'OUT OF ORDER' sign on the exhibit and call somebody to come and fix it." 

I worried then, and I worry now, about the long-term effects of "workshopless" museums on both visitors and the museum field itself.

How do you handle exhibit workshop space(s) in your museum or in museum projects you've helped create? Are workshop spaces a necessity, or am I just hopelessly "old school"? 

Let us know in the "Comments Section" below!

Don't miss out on any ExhibiTricks posts! It's easy to get updates via email or your favorite news reader. Just click the "Sign up for Free ExhibiTricks Blog Updates" link on the upper right side of the blog.

Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

If you enjoy the blog, you can help keep it free to read and free from ads by supporting ExhibiTricks through our PayPal "Tip Jar"

The Hands-On Toolbox: Physical Tools Every Museum Exhibit Developer Should Own

In our increasingly digital world, it's easy to forget that the best museum exhibits still live in physical space. Visitors touch, manipulate, step on, lean against, and occasionally spill coffee on our carefully crafted experiences. While I spend plenty of time staring at screens, there's still no substitute for getting your hands dirty with real materials and actual physical prototypes.

After decades of building everything from delicate artifact mounts to robust interactive stations that can withstand the enthusiasm of 10,000 schoolchildren, I've assembled a collection of physical tools that have earned their permanent spots in my workshop. Some are obvious, others might surprise you, but all of them have saved my bacon more times than I can count.

The Almighty Hot Glue Gun (And Its Professional Cousin)

Let's start with the humble hot glue gun, the most underappreciated hero of exhibit development. Before you dismiss this as amateur hour, hear me out. Nothing beats the speed and versatility of hot glue for rapid prototyping, temporary installations, and those 11:00 PM fabrication emergencies.

I keep both a basic craft-store version and a professional-grade Surebonder model in my kit. The cheap one is perfect for quick mockups and brainstorming sessions where you're gluing foam core to test spatial relationships. The heavy-duty version can handle everything from securing cable runs to creating temporary exhibit labels that need to survive opening night.

Pro tip: Invest in different temperature sticks. Low-temp is for delicate materials, high-temp is for structural work, and specialty formulations are for specific materials like fabric or metal.

Foam Core and the Tools That Love It

If hot glue is the duct tape of exhibit development, then foam core is the bread and butter. This lightweight, easy-to-cut material lets you build everything from scale models to full-size mockups with minimal investment and maximum flexibility.

However, the quality of foam core is only as good as the tools used to cut it. After years of fighting with dull X-acto blades and wonky rulers, I've learned that quality cutting tools aren't just nice to have—they're essential for maintaining one's sanity.

My go-to setup includes a 48-inch metal straight edge (the aluminum ones found at art supply stores or Amazon), a rotary cutter with fresh blades, and—this is crucial—a self-healing cutting mat large enough to handle full sheets. 

I've used foam core mockups to test everything from visitor sightlines to wheelchair accessibility. Nothing beats walking clients through a life-size cardboard version of their future gallery to help them understand spatial relationships and traffic flow.

The Measuring Arsenal

Museum exhibits live in the real world, where precision matters and "close enough" can mean the difference between a seamless visitor experience and a costly fabrication do-over. My measuring toolkit has evolved over the years, but these items have proven indispensable:

A 25-foot tape measure is the workhorse—long enough for gallery spaces but compact enough to fit in a tool bag. I prefer the Stanley FatMax for its standout length and durability.

But the real game-changer is a good laser measure. The Bosch GLM 100 has revolutionized how I document existing spaces and check installations. Point, click, done—no more wrestling with tape measures in awkward corners or trying to measure ceiling heights with a stepladder.

Clamps: The Unsung Heroes

If you've ever tried to hold two pieces of anything together while the glue dries, you understand the joy of owning good clamps. But clamps do so much more than just hold things—they're positioning tools, assembly aids, and sometimes the only thing standing between you and a complete fabrication disaster.

Quick-grip clamps are ideal for rapid prototyping sessions where you frequently adjust and reposition components. I keep 6-inch Irwin Quick-Grips in my workshop for everything from holding foam core assemblies to temporarily positioning lighting fixtures.

For serious work, invest in some quality bar clamps. The Bessey K-Body series might seem expensive, but they'll last forever and provide the kind of pressure and precision that makes professional-quality work possible.

Secret weapon: Small spring clamps are perfect for managing cables, holding temporary labels, and about a thousand other little tasks that pop up during installations.

The Power of Paper (And Cardboard)

Before you build anything permanent, build it temporary. I keep a stockpile of different paper weights and cardboard types specifically for prototyping and testing ideas.

Regular cardboard is great for rough mockups, but corrugated plastic sheets (Coroplast) are a real star for functional prototypes. They cut like cardboard but behave more like the acrylic or wood you'll eventually use for the final version. 

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Human-Powered Hand Tools

Sometimes the simplest tools are the most reliable. A good hand tool doesn't need batteries, won't crash, and works exactly the same way every time you pick it up.

A quality utility knife with breakaway blades handles 90% of cutting tasks. The Stanley 10-499 is virtually indestructible and accepts standard blades you can buy anywhere.

Needle-nose pliers are perfect for working in tight spaces, bending wire, and retrieving dropped screws from impossible locations. I also keep a set of flush-cut pliers for trimming zip ties and wire cleanly.

A small pry bar set might seem like overkill, but when you need to disassemble something that was "temporarily" installed three exhibitions ago, you'll be grateful to have it.

The Philosophy of Physical Tools

After decades of making things with my hands, I've learned that the best tools aren't necessarily the most expensive ones, but they are the ones you'll actually reach for when you need them. 

A $20 tool that lives in your kit and gets used regularly is infinitely more valuable than a $200 tool that sits in a drawer because it's too precious to risk damaging.

Buy quality where it matters—cutting tools, measuring devices, and anything safety-related deserve your investment. However, don't be afraid to supplement with more affordable alternatives for tasks that don't require precision or longevity.

Most importantly, remember that tools are amplifiers, not substitutes, for good thinking. The most sophisticated fabrication equipment in the world won't fix a poorly conceived exhibit concept, but a well-thought-out idea can be realized with surprisingly simple tools.

The physical act of building prototypes, testing interactions, and iterating with real materials teaches you things that no amount of digital modeling can reveal. How heavy should an interactive element feel to seem substantial but not unwieldy? How much force will a 4-year-old apply to a button? What happens when coffee gets spilled on your interface?

These are the questions answered in the workshop, which includes physical tools, real materials, and prototypes that visitors can touch, break, and use.

What tools have earned a permanent spot in your workshop?  

I'd love to hear about the physical tools that have made your exhibit development process better, faster, or just more enjoyable. 

Drop me a line, or leave a comment below, and let's keep the conversation going.

 

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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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How Every Museum Can Be More Like a Children's Museum

As I head off to the InterActivity Conference this week, I’ve been thinking about how traditionally hands-off museums can learn valuable lessons from their Children's Museum counterparts. While most cultural institutions strive to educate and inspire, Children's Museums have mastered the art of making learning an immersive, hands-on adventure that visitors actually *want* to experience. 

Here's how different types of cultural institutions can channel some of that same Children’s Museum mojo:

Art Museums: Let Visitors Create, Not Just Contemplate

Art Museums traditionally rely on the "look but don't touch" approach, but they could also: 

• Create "inspiration stations" near notable works where visitors can try artistic techniques.

• Offer "remix corners" where visitors can create their own versions of famous paintings.

Michelangelo didn't become an artist only by looking at sculptures—he also made them. Let your visitors create art, too!

Natural History Museums: Bring Those Dioramas to Life

Your taxidermied animals are looking a bit dusty. We know they're not real, so why pretend? Instead, why not:

• Transform static exhibits into sensory experiences (What does fossil or mummified evidence tell us about what a mammoth could have sounded or felt like? Let visitors find out!)

• Create "science detective” stations where visitors solve real-life ecological mysteries tied to the actual locations featured in the dioramas using scientific tools

History Museums: Let Visitors Step Into the Story

History museums often treat visitors as passive observers of the past rather than active participants. To change this:

• Create "decision points" where visitors face the same choices as historical figures.

• Design immersive environments that engage all senses (Yes, medieval towns did smell that bad!)

The Secret Sauce of Children’s Museums: Less Reading, More Doing

The magic of Children's Museums isn't just about bright colors or simpler content—it's about active engagement. Children's Museums transform visitors from passive observers into active participants -- creating meaningful experiences that stick with people long after they've left the building.

So go ahead—add that dress-up corner to your art gallery or install a wind tunnel into your history museum!

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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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