Defining the concept of an exhibition involves decisions about its purpose (what the exhibition aims to achieve), content (what objects and/or interpretive concepts are used), structure (linear, based on discovery), target public (children, local visitors, tourists) and communication approach (object-led, interpretive). Then, in concept development, specific decisions have to be taken about the storylines, media and actual exhibits used, including the development of multimedia applications to support the exhibition. Some important principles suggest themselves, regarding exhibition design:
A chaotic exhibition, whereby the visitor is not presented with a coherent path of traversal, often leads to information overload or a feeling of getting lost.
On the other hand, visual monotony leads often to visitor fatigue; when relatively homogeneous artefacts have to be presented, this tends to be a considerable problem.
Prior knowledge of what is contained in a museum exhibition and how it is structured leads to a more satisfactory visitor experience.
However, rather than strictly controlling the learning process, individual museum exhibits provide the information necessary for visitors to apply their own learning skills with greater effectiveness. Visitors enjoy being offered guided tours of an exhibition, especially if they can ask their own questions to the guide and have some choice over the sequence of exhibits visited. Visitors benefit from reading or attending lectures about specific aspects of the theme of an exhibition, both before and after their visit. Affective or sensory arousal, positive or negative, heightens the capacity of visitors for learning. These principles affect the totality of exhibition design, including the educational and other activities used to support exhibitions, signage and written documentation, etc. Yet they also identify potential functions for the application of multimedia technology in exhibition, as listed in the following paragraphs.
Multimedia applications, typically installed in the form of kiosks near the entrance of an exhibition, can provide visitors with an effective way of understanding what an exhibition is about, what parts it consists of and how they can get there. The purpose of such applications is to improve physical orientation, typically at the beginning of a visit.
For these applications to serve better than the traditional brochure with a brief introduction and plan of the exhibition, such kiosk applications could provide:
A clear focus on the purpose and scope of the exhibition, possibly in the form of an attractor loop.
Short introductions to the main parts of the exhibition, illustrating key objects and artifacts and thus arousing visitors interest.
Alternative main indexes (e.g. thematic, artist's names, provenance) to the exhibitions content, apart from that determining the physical layout of the exhibition.
Clear instructions about how to get from the kiosk to the gallery.
The following recommendations may be appropriate for such index exhibitions:
While they can offload the work of an information front desk, they should be seen as complementary to human assistance rather than as an alternative.
They should be designed to allow visitors to retrieve orientation information within a few minutes and should avoid unnecessary detail.
They should be installed in an adequate number of kiosks near the entrance, or, in large exhibitions, in areas where visitors decide chose a route to take, with visitor flow as a major consideration.
