A Book For Everyone Who Works With Creative People

It's somehow always surprising to me that not everyone who runs a museum works well with creative people.

Bonnie Siegler's new book,  Dear Client: This Book Will Teach You How to Get What You Want from Creative People, may well be the perfect gift for those folks struggling to get the best results out of their creative relationships.

The tone of the book is set from the very first quote, attributed to Steve Jobs: "It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do."

In a visually compelling presentation, Siegler, a graphic designer, lays out 66 pithy tips for working with creative people.  

Here are a few of my favorites:

No. 5  Have Clarity of Purpose

As Siegler mentions in her book, if you have more than three priorities, you really don't have any.

No. 8  Decide Who Will Decide

Creative vision is NOT a group activity. Choose one person who will be the decider and/or tie-breaker.

No. 20  Be Up Front About Money

Trust us with your budget parameters --- it will make us feel like we're on the same side.

No. 49  Don't Let Data Drive Your Decisions

I love what Siegler says here -- data doesn't leave room for the most unquantifiable of qualities: vision.  

People will always respond to the familiar in a way that can be recorded.  But how do you crunch the numbers on something new and remarkable?

There are many other excellent takeaways in Dear Client: This Book Will Teach You How to Get What You Want from Creative People.

In fact, you may want to purchase two copies --- one for yourself, and one for your next client!

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Small Spaces in Big Museums

On a recent visit to the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston with my family, it wasn't just the big exhibition galleries and art that impressed me, but also some smaller, more intimate, exhibition spaces.

In particular, the Musical Instruments gallery was a perfect "right-sized" museum experience.  As you can see by the section of museum map from the MFA below, the space is barely bigger than the nearby ticketing desk area.

However, while small, every aspect of the Musical Instruments gallery was polished to jewel-like perfection.

To begin with, the space was slightly off the main entrance and easily missed if you were rushing into some of the special exhibition galleries.  Unlike most of the galleries in the MFA, Musical Instruments was sealed by a heavy glass door that blocked out the sound from the rest of the museum.  This was highlighted by the soft music playing inside the gallery --- very appropriate considering the subject of the gallery's contents!

The instruments on display were unusual and interesting (like the ceremonial trombone pictured at the top of this post) and because the space was small, with only a few other people inside, it rewarded careful observation and concentration.  Minute details that might otherwise be glossed over in the hustle-and-bustle of larger MFA galleries, were instead admired and appreciated.

The Musical Instruments gallery experience felt like an exhibit oasis in the middle of the MFA.  As a visitor, I appreciated the respite and felt recharged to explore some of the bigger, busier galleries.

So here's to small museum spaces!  How might you add a small or quiet moment to your museum or to your next exhibit project?



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Making Math (More) Fun for Museum Visitors

As I've been working on exhibit installations and new museum building (re)opening at The Discovery Museums in Acton, MA, I've been thinking about how to present and interpret different bits of content -- like MATH.

Lots of people claim to "hate" math topics, but I've recently fallen down the rabbit hole of Numberphile, a great math-oriented website and related YouTube channel filled with all sorts of clever ideas that should be of interest to educators and exhibit designers alike.

One of the things I like best about the Numberphile videos is that each mathematician is so enthusiastic, you can't help but get excited and interested in things like "circle inversions" that you might not have even given a passing thought to before.

While I've honestly enjoyed every Numberphile presenter I've seen, some are particular standouts.

Tadashi Tokieda often relates his math talks to toys or familiar materials.  Here's a video (embedded below or on YouTube) that shows all the fun topological ways to play with a strip of paper, some paper clips, and rubber bands.

Hannah Fry is a funny presenter who often ties the mathematics of game theory to real life situations like winning Rock, Paper, Scissors (video below or on YouTube) or Secret Santa, or making the best online dating profile.

If you are a bit "math shy" or even an avowed mathphobe, click on over to Numberphile!  I'm sure you will find something to pique your interest there.


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President Trump is No Friend to Museums (or Libraries, or PBS, or NASA ...)

Follow the money.  As with any budget, you can tell a lot about the interests and priorities of the White House by looking at their latest proposed budget.

While lawmakers are unlikely to enact most of Trump's proposal, here’s a direct look at some of the pages from the FY 2019 Budget that proposes to eliminate the primary government agencies that fund museums and cultural agencies.

IMLS

NEH

NEA

The proposed FY 2019 Budget also calls for the elimination of PBS and the NASA Office of Education, as well as agencies like the National Wildlife Refuge Fund and the Chemical Safety Board.

Just because the current President is a short-fingered vulgarian doesn't mean that the United States government should not support arts, culture, and science.

Please contact your Representatives and Senators in Washington to tell them that a great country does not eliminate support for agencies like IMLS, NEA, NEH, and PBS.



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What If You Evaluated EVERY Part Of Your Museum Every Day?

What if you evaluated EVERY part of your museum every day?  That was the question I asked myself after reading this NewYorker magazine article about the Finnish company HappyOrNot.

These "frictionless" 4-button terminals let people leave feedback without even breaking stride. And HappyOrNot's terminals have already been installed in more than a hundred countries and have registered more than six hundred million responses --- in airports, gas stations, shoe stores, you name it.

While this happy/sad button approach seems incredibly simple (if not downright simplistic) the article is filled with direct business changes and improvements that were made due to the data generated by the HappyOrNot terminals.

And again it makes me wonder what would happen to a museum if you scattered these 4-button wonders throughout your exhibit galleries and near your gift shop, your bathrooms, your cafe?
And if not HappyOrNot terminals how can cultural institutions generate more real-time visitor feedback to improve visitor satisfaction?

Does this seem like an interesting idea or a hare-brained pipe dream?  Are there any museums currently using HappyOrNot terminals.? Give us YOUR feedback in the Comments Section below!



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Museum Exhibit Design Inspiration: Glow-In-The-Dark Thread!

I love finding interesting exhibit supplies that show up in unexpected places. While working on a recent exhibit design project, I went in search of different types of glow-in-the-dark materials and found Sublime Stitching in Austin, Texas.

If you scroll to the bottom of the handy Tools Section of the Sublime Stitching website you will find the finely braided glow in the dark thread in a palette of five colors to fill all your fiber and phosphorescent needs. (And now you get twice as much tread per spool!)

Several of the other tools highlighted in this section of the Sublime Stitching website, while originally intended for sewing and stitching purposes, will work well for your next prototyping or exhibition project as well.

What unexpected exhibit development resources do you use?

Share your finds in the Comments Section below!


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