Museums

Museums

Whether your mission is to teach children about the intricacies of an ocean ecosystem or to relay the history of an historical home to visitors of all ages, Holt Environments will enter a deep discovery with your team to fully understand your exhibit needs. We collaborate with you to design, build, and install your vision for new, permanent, and traveling interpretive elements, touch screen kiosks, and electro-mechanical interactives. Museums provide interpretive and branded environments that connect visitors to a vast array of cultural, scientific, and historical learning. Working alongside museum directors and curators, Holt Environments crafts theme-specific displays, informative graphics, welcome area reception furniture, and donor recognition signage to better reflect the museum’s mission and its community in a comfortable and inviting space.

Interpretive Museum Planning + Design Development

Entering into a new design project for a museum exhibit gallery can be challenging.  The beginning of the process requires in depth interviews with organizational members and educators, implementation and resource planning, and several rounds of design iteration and space planning. The end goal is the creation of an immersive, physical environment that captivates and educates your visitors in a lasting way. Holt Environments will work with you from the beginning to define important milestone progress dates throughout the process, to conceptualize unique and well-crafted exhibit displays, to design impactful and informative graphics, and to engineer interactive user experiences that inspire.

Interpretive Graphic Design for Museum Exhibits

Successful interpretive and environmental graphic design for museum exhibits must address the tone, clarity, and meter of the content throughout the space. The story created and told in each space should incorporate an introduction, a middle, and a clear end with informative stopping points along the path.

Interpretive graphic design for museum exhibits should reinforce the overall theme of the exhibit through its visual representation in both style and color. For instance, graphics designed for a children’s museum would likely use bright colors and fun, cartoon fonts. Alternatively, an historical exhibit about the Revolutionary War might appear more reserved and utilize handwritten script fonts reflective of the period. If artifacts are displayed, the graphic design and layout of the artifact labels should be legible and orderly so that a visitor is not confused as to which label belongs to which artifact object within a display case.

Accessibility should also be considered while designing graphics and signage for public spaces such as visitor centers and museum exhibits. The Smithsonian Institution has long provided guidelines for accessible exhibition design. More information and a link to these guidelines can be found on our Resources page here.

Exhibit Displays + Custom Millwork

Custom millwork, exhibits, displays cases, cabinets, reception desks, map tables, and interactive kiosks should be designed in a way to compliment and contribute to the visitor experience within a museum exhibit gallery. Finishes and lighting choices should compliment the graphics designed for that space and foster a sense of open exploration by the visitor. These bespoke pieces of furniture should be fabricated durably to withstand exposure to the public. Lastly, archival qualities should be considered for artifact displays. In some exhibits, desiccated chambers or UV-rated acrylic vitrines and windows may be a necessity to protect the artifacts displayed within the display cases.

Interactive Digital Design for Museum Exhibits

Another great vehicle for engaging and educating your visitors is through digital displays. Touch screen kiosks, multi-touch walls, Phidget RFID sensor interactives, video games, and simulators are all dynamic tools that can add to the overall visitor experience. Holt Environments tailors and engineers custom digital programs in-house with specific goals for museum exhibits. You can learn more about our Digital Services here.

Ready To Bring Your Story To Life?