A look into map design and how it can significantly change visitor experience.
Nothing excites me more than visiting a new museum. They’re probably the most interesting government-funded buildings to exist!
The excitement of browsing through collections online, gearing up to go see favourite pieces or learn about new stories has always piqued my interest. Every new city I visit includes a trip to at least one museum, and I always pick up a map as a souvenir. Over time, I’ve started to compare the maps, and have begun to realize it is an overlooked factor when it comes to presenting these museums to the public.
It’s a pretty small feature to get worked up about, but it’s an important facet: they guide people and help make sure they don’t get lost, that they can see as much as possible before leaving. I don’t believe museums go out of their way to make sure you don’t get through everything because most tourists won’t be back a second time. I do believe the design of a museum map matters, and that sometimes it feels like certain museums go out of their way to make these maps inaccessible.
It irks me when a map is hard to decipher—it’s not difficult to make clearly labelled floor plans. Some museums create their maps to look like treasure maps; if you stumble upon the room you were looking for you’re considered lucky. You totally won’t feel like you’ve been wasting time trying to figure it out. Luckily, most museums are not places where you’d necessarily need a map, but when you’re on a time crunch or want to see specific rooms, it really helps to have something legibile on hand. Plus, many visitors who have accessibility needs would likely benefit from a well-designed map as well.
The Royal Ontario Museum is my favourite simply because each room is clearly labelled, and it doesn’t try to hard to look uber fancy. The galleries are labelled with a general theme and in big bold letters. I will admit that the floor plans are a lot simpler than other museums’ and I’ve been there so many times I know the place like the back of my hand. Still, it’s easy to get lost if you’re trying to use any of the shortcuts. I helped a couple of older ladies to get to another room, and though I knew the route wasn’t complicated, I felt they were still confused. It helps that the ROM has a simple floor plan, otherwise I’d know my help was useless.
Another thing about many museums is that you can’t rely on signs within the museum simply because…they don’t exist! So if the museum is already flawed in this way, why is it so hard to create and offer good maps?
I remember going to the Houston Fine Arts Museum recently. Absolutely love that place, they’ve got a great selection, the curators did an excellent job etc. etc. However, I was constantly stressed out. You see, unlike the ROM, HFA had an awkward vertical map. The floors were practically miniaturized with labels that were shrunken even more. Even worse, HFA had 3 seperate buildings to visit, so trying to figure out which building and gallery I was visiting was a disaster. Every time I tried to match a gallery to the room on the map I spent extra time that was essentially being wasted. The galleries weren’t labelled by what the theme was, unlike the ROM.
Another thing to note: the price of maps. They should be free.
Washington D.C. is a great place because its museums are free (hooray!). You’ll rarely find top-tier museums with free admission. However, I found it absurd that the staff was offering maps with a huge “$1” sign next to them. The staff said they were encouraging donations, but their sign didn’t say that in huge letters. I thought that was a bit scummy. I’m all for saving paper, but most people are going to want a printed map, so it comes across as a cash grab. I don’t recall coming across any signs of digital map availability which annoys me even more.
Maybe I would’ve donated considering the place was free, but the sign should’ve had a “pay-what-you-wish” setup, which is what the Phoenix Art Museum offers on Wednesdays.
Design elements are important because as a visitor you can get more done in less time, and tourists are often busy trying to visit multiple places each day. The Prado Museum in Madrid does a great job of “less is more” by using colour coding, an element that is not used enough! The galleries are shown in a flat 2D format, but the rooms are coloured and match a given legend. It’s easy to read and figure out where to go. It was also free. Andrew McIlwraith wrote a thesis that focuses on the study of museum map design and its effectiveness. It mentions that some museums will have different maps at different prices (ranging from free to about a couple of dollars), but I don’t see the point in that either. Museums are public buildings that should be accessible to every type of visitor.
Based on the McIlwraith’s findings, the British Museum was charging 2 GBP (1.4 USD in 2018 which roughly be the same today) . The 2014 map was all black and white, with numbers all over and a legend above to ‘help’. It looks overwhelming and the lack of colour is annoying. This is a common theme with maps though, there are plenty of places that don’t go the extra mile to make maps look accessible.
Some museums try to make use of the digital era by offering advanced maps. For example, the Met Museum uses 3D printing technology to produce special maps for the visually impaired. Many countries across Europe have also begun using this tool thanks to the Ambavis project.
On the other hand, some museums solely choose to go digital, which is…a choice. I remember the National Archaeological Museum in Athens made me connect to the WiFi to look at the map online. However, this museum and many others offer their maps online to download and print which should be a given in this day and age. Athens’ museum is small, and it’s ridiculously easy to walk around. Still, their team made the conscious effort of colour-coding regardless of using a number system.
Personally, I am not a number person and would much rather see a themed title for the gallery so I know what I am looking at. I don’t like looking at the name of the actual room because what is the point? I don’t know this person it’s named after and it gives no indication of what’s in that room, so I almost have no choice but to check. Again, it takes up time for the visitor.
Fortunately, some museums offer apps you can download to view 3D maps and play around with them. It’s not an option that everyone may want (I don’t think I would use them) but at least it exists.
Maps in general are helpful tools in any setting, and its importance is often overlooked by people visiting places like museums. As an avid museum fan who keeps maps after visiting, I’m not only reminded of which ones had which pieces, but of the overall experience. If the architecture of a building is atrocious, the least you could do is make exploring it easier! After all, design and function go hand-in-hand.
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