Let's talk about that fancy VR headset gathering dust in your exhibit storage closet. You know the one. It was supposed to revolutionize visitor engagement. It cost more than your annual supplies budget. And now? It's serving as a very expensive doorstop because nobody could figure out how to actually integrate it into the story you were trying to tell.
The siren song of "cutting-edge" tech is hard to resist. But something interesting is happening in the museum world, and it's actually making me optimistic about the future of immersive experiences.
The Shift
Museums are pivoting toward what Experience Designers are calling "depth over dazzle." Immersive environments that blend scenography with smart interpretive strategy, actually delivering on learning goals rather than just entertaining. Exhibit makers are shifting toward intentional technology—solutions that enhance the story rather than becoming the story themselves.
This isn't just some pie-in-the-sky theoretical framework. This shift is happening, and the results are genuinely exciting.
When Sound Tells the Story Better Than Pixels
Take the V&A's DIVA exhibition (which ran through April 2024). Instead of plastering walls with touchscreens or forcing visitors to juggle tablets, the V&A handed out wireless headsets that delivered a completely hands-free sonic experience.
As visitors explored costumes worn by everyone from Maria Callas to Beyoncé, the audio triggered automatically based on their location. Gareth Fry's sound design used 3D spatial audio. So you'd hear Aretha Franklin's voice seemingly emanating from her actual costume, or feel surrounded by the orchestra that Judy Garland would have experienced on stage.
The tech (tonwelt's supraGuide SPHERIC system with ambisonics and 360-degree surround sound) was sophisticated, but visitors didn't experience it as "technology." They experienced it as being there.
.
That's intentional technology.
Shipshape Tech at The Cutty Sark
Another great example of "intentional tech" is the Cutty Sark Soundscape at Royal Museums Greenwich.
Instead of animated AR pirates or touchscreen ship schematics, the Greenwich team created an immersive ASMR-style audio experience. Visitors choose wind conditions (from light air to near-gale) and hear what the 150-year-old tea clipper would have actually sounded like: creaking wood, waves, wind in the rigging, and tea chests being loaded in the hold.
The technology enabling this (Bluetooth beacons triggering location-aware audio through the Smartify app on visitors' own phones) disappears into the background. What stays with visitors is the visceral understanding of what it felt like to sail this ship.
Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with visitors reporting they felt like they were "stepping back in time." One visitor said, "The sounds made the ship's history come alive in a way I never expected."
Why This Matters (Beyond My Personal Pet Peeves)
This "depth over dazzle" approach counters the exhausting "tech for tech's sake" treadmill that's been burning out museum professionals and confusing visitors for years.
How many times have you:
• Implemented a "must-have" tech solution that was obsolete in 18 months?
• Watched visitors skip past your expensive interactive to read a simple, well-written label?
• Spent weeks troubleshooting tech problems instead of refining your interpretive message?
• Justified a technology purchase to board members based on the wow factor rather than learning outcomes?
Instead, the "depth over dazzle" approach says:
Stop. What's the story? What do visitors need to understand, feel, or experience? What's the right tool to make that happen?
Sometimes that tool is sophisticated spatial audio. Sometimes it's a well-placed bench and a thoughtful label.
Your Takeaway Questions
If you're planning your next exhibition right now, here's my challenge: Before you say yes to any piece of technology, ask these questions:
1. What's the core experience we're trying to create? (Not: what cool tech have we seen lately?)
2. Does this technology serve the story, or is it the story? (If visitors remember the tech instead of the content, you've failed.)
3. Will this still make sense in 5 years? (Or will it be another dust-gathering VR headset?)
4. Can visitors engage without instructions? (If you need signage explaining how to use your interactive, it's too complicated.)
The sweet spot is when technology becomes so well-integrated that visitors stop thinking about it as technology. They're just having an experience. They're just learning. They're just feeling something.
And that's what depth over dazzle really means.
What's your experience with intentional vs. dazzle-focused tech? Have you found the sweet spot in your own exhibits? Let's talk about it in the Comments Section below.
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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