Setting Off on the Right Foot

Abstract

When exhibitions set out to impart information, they are a means of communication. Whether they succeed depends in large measure on the sensitivity of the designers to their audience, the visitors. Finding out what visitors are like is an aspect of evaluation, and the earlier this knowledge is fed into the design process, the greater the chance of success in producing good designs. Front-end evaluation gives insight into visitors and their requirements at the planning stage, when it can be used most effectively. The authors report on three projects where front-end evaluation has been used, one to plan a substantial series of exhibitions on the earth sciences, a second to design an exhibition on an important but unpopular group of animals, and a third to develop an exhibition for a specialist audience.