What's the Big Idea?

Museum exhibit people can be obnoxious. We have to make just about everything difficult. Nearly every day, someone comes up to me and says “I have a great idea for an exhibit!” and proceeds to tell me about an interactive they’ve dreamed up, or a topic they love. (My sister insists that an exhibit about wax would pack ‘em in.) Then I ask the dreaded question: “So, what’s the point?” I’m not trying to be mean, but trying to get across that to be an effective exhibit, it needs a why. It needs a Big Idea.

The Big Idea is a frustrating master. Without one, you cannot hope to know if your exhibit was effective. But with one, you are constantly bound by the question “does it speak to the Big Idea?” The concept has provoked many a developer ranting “but it’s fun dammit!”

So why does this matter? Well, we hope that exhibit designers and builders aren’t creating exhibits for themselves. There are these people called visitors, and the exhibit, ultimately is for them.

A good exhibit changes a visitor. The change can be in their knowledge or skills, their attitude or behavior, or their life conditions. An exhibit on the plight of the purple-horned snorkack could change my attitude toward them and my behavior (if I feel compelled to help them.) An exhibit about the history of 18^th century flatware will certainly add to my knowledge base. What will your exhibit do for the visitor?

The following is NOT a big idea: Biodiversity

That is a topic. It’s a good one, but it isn’t a big idea.

This is a big idea: Diversity of life is necessary for the survival of all living things; diversity is under threat primarily by human beings living in the environment, but things can be done and are being done to help. (Courtesy AMNH)

A big idea is a complete sentence. Ideally it should answer the Enduring Question. For this example, the Enduring Question is: “Why should we care about the diversity of life?”

An effective way of creating a successful exhibit is to work backwards. Start with the end result – not the interactive, but the experience the visitor will have – and work back to the concepts.

Stages of Backward Design:

1) Think about what you want your visitor to come away with.
2) Think about how you will know if they “get it”
3) Plan the experience to make sure they do!

So, what is your Big Idea? How can designing backwards help your exhibit to be more effective?

(Info gathered from The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Dr. Elee Wood and the Shaping Outcomes training)