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Interpretive planning

Interpretive planning checklist

  • Draw up an interpretive plan for your exhibition that includes your goals and objectives, the themes you will explore, and a list of items you wish to include
  • Set out why you are preparing an exhibition and what you want your visitors to learn. This will help ensure your exhibition is coherent and interesting, and will provide useful information for funding applications.
  • Create an inventory of the items you will display, based on things like the size of your display area, your exhibition layout and themes
  • Plan the arrangement of your items and take photographs of the layouts to refer to when installing your exhibition
  • See 'Making use of the collections' for preservation tips on displaying documents
  • Write interpretive text to bring your exhibition to life. Help visitors connect with the items on display and understand your key messages.