Exhibit Design Inspiration: Foldify

Foldify is a super-fun iPad app that helps users create their own papercraft projects.  What's nice is that Foldify is an app that neatly stradles the digital and physical worlds in a crafty way.

As you can see by the video at the top of this post, Foldify lets you create and customize a "flattened" version of a papercraft project that you can then print out, cut out, and assemble yourself.

Foldify eases you into the process with a tutorial and templates, but from there you can create custom papercraft toys of your own design or plug into the burgeoning Foldify community to sample other people's designs or share your own.

So check out Foldify and get your fold on!  It's available at the App Store.



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ReWind: ELVIS the Prototyper 2.0

The past few years I've been fortunate to work with the students in the Exhibition Design Master's program at FIT (The Fashion Institute of Technology) in Manhattan.

My presentations always cover one of my favorite, but often overlooked, design topics: Prototyping! 

In my opinion, most exhibit design misfires could be prevented by more thorough prototyping at the beginning of the exhibit development process.

In addition to warping the minds of these young up-and-coming exhibit designers with my corny jokes and some rapid/cheap prototyping exercises using paper and masking tape,  part of my presentation also dealt with how to use the word ELVIS as a mnemonic (memory aid) for exhibit designers when they are developing prototypes.  I've updated the "I" in ELVIS, so consider this "Elvis the Prototyper" 2.0

 E = Everyday Materials
Using everyday materials makes it easier to prototype AND maintain exhibits.  I'd much rather spec something from McMaster-Carr or the local Radio Shack that does the job, rather than creating a custom component that will be tricky to replace later on.

L = Looseness
Providing open-ended opportunities during exhibit development and for the visitors.  The best exhibits (and exhibit developers!) are not one-trick ponies, they are wired up to allow multiple successful outcomes.

V = Vermicious
The word means "wormy." Good exhibits and prototypes should "worm around" your head on many different levels: old/young, art/science, beginner/expert.  If you can find a way to conceptually and actively "hook" your visitors, they'll remember your exhibits.

I = Iteration

Try, try again!  There's no such thing as a prototype that's "perfect" the first time.  Try your ideas out with people, think about what you've found out, then change your prototype for the next round of exhibit (or label or programming or whatever) testing.

S = Sharing
We should be sharing ideas with our visitors, and each other as professionals.

In that spirit, don't forget to check out The Great Big Exhibit Resource List, a free compendium of great resources for designers, makers, AND prototypers.

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The Ubiquitous Donor Wall

I'm gathering up images of great examples of Donor Recognition walls (or installations) for a future post.

(Rather than just "Googling" donor walls, I'd rather have a human-mediated search via ExhibiTricks readers and recommendations from museum/exhibit/design colleagues.)

So, if you have images and descriptions of truly outstanding and/or striking Donor Walls (like the one from California Academy of Sciences above) send them along via email.

Thanks!

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Are Vanishing Field Trips Creating The Lost Museum Generation?

Every type of museum should keep working to make their institution accessible and appealing to their youngest visitors.

That is what I kept thinking about when Susie Wilkening of Reach Advisors gave a Skype talk to my Bank Street graduate class yesterday.

Susie shared many interesting findings and insights regarding her Museum Audience research (much of which can be found on the Museum Audience Insight blog) but the one that stood out for me was the notion that if people don't get into the "museum habit" through visits when they are young (by 7 or 8 or so at the latest) they probably won't consider museums "necessary" (not just "nice") when they become adults. 

If children don't visit museums while they are still in grade school they simply won't grow up to be "Museum Advocates."

Perhaps these findings struck me because I'm a parent who just naturally wants to visit museums with my family (because that's what my family did when I was a kid.)

Maybe the importance of fostering positive attitudes in children toward museums resonates with me because of the parallels in research studies about children's attitudes toward science, in general, and science careers, in particular.  (Basically if you don't make science interesting/fun/compelling in elementary school, you've lost them in the upper grades.)

But I think more than anything, I'm seeing the scary ramifications of the "No Child Left Untested" mindset of current public school education that sees field trips to museums as "unnecessary."   As research on Museum Advocates shows, the first (and perhaps) only exposure children from lower socioeconomic households and families with lower educational attainment have to museums is through field trips. 

So what happens to the pipeline of early museum visitors that we want to grow up to be active adult consumers of culture if there are no museum field trips?  Museums already have a "demographic problem" in the fact that museum visitors tend to skew "Older" and "Whiter" than the way population trends (as projected by the census) in the U.S. are heading.

It's scary.  And it makes me fear for a robust future for museums filled with truly diverse audiences, not just the affluent and highly-educated (two groups, regardless of race or ethnicity,  that are clearly tied to early family visit to museums.)

I'd say it also reinforces the importance of both Children's Museums and child-friendly offerings in every type of museum.

I'd love for ExhibiTricks readers to share positive examples of programs, exhibits, and institutional attitudes that foster a love of museums in our youngest visitors.  Leave your thoughts and ideas in the "Comments Section" below or send me an email and I'll gather all the thoughts up to share in a future post.



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