Rand, Judy. “Write and Design with the Family in Mind.” (2010)

When designing exhibitions for children, history museums need to design for someone, not about something. While objects are an important part of history exhibitions for children, the exhibition must be child-centric first and the objects must fit these needs. The age old adage ‘less is more’ rings true when describing labels in history exhibitions for children. Labels are more than just words and they need to be designed with the audience in mind. Adults use labels to supplement their own knowledge and to help their children learn. Labels can have different functions in history museums, such as inviting families to the exhibition, personalizing the experience, focusing the visitors’ attention, describing the action, narrating a story, anticipating and answering visitors’ questions, explaining what is going on, persuading the reader to view something in a different light, instructing visitors on how to play games etc., and encouraging conversations. Voice is important in history museum labels; knowing your audience and writing for them is key. In order to write for a family, history museums need to write labels that are geared to kids but that will be read to them by the parents, so it is important to write labels in language that is meant to be read out loud. The author continues with a discussion of how to design the labels for kids and families and where to place them within an exhibition. The chapter concludes with a call for children’s museums and history museums to collaborate to create exhibitions and experiences that are enticing and enriching for kids and families.