Metropolitan Museum: Wayshowing System
New York, NY | May 2009
Small Design Firm was initially engaged to create a master plan for technology use in the American Wing. This led to the development of a number of project concepts: Period Room interactives, Elevator display, and the re-design of all printed signs and labels in the new wing.
Small Design Firm led the design and implementation of a comprehensive wayshowing system for the recently renovated American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This system defines the organization of signage in the wing at all scales and gives the entire wing a consistent way of displaying information to the visitor. A single set of layout standards and design rules apply to both printed labels and digital and interactive screens. This system was developed with Timon Botez, César Sesio and Juliette Cezzar, and is flexible enough to handle a wide variety of curatorial content. The signs are divided into three primary categories: object labels, overview panels, and navigational signs. Steel or aluminum channels accept printed labels that can be easily replaced. The seamless transition between printed and digital signage helps to unify content within the wing and eliminates typical barriers between old and new technologies.
We are currently at about the halfway mark and will install further signs and interactive displays as the painting galleries are renovated and reopen in 2011.
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