Concept Testing & Prototyping for the Americans Exhibition at the National Museum of the American Indian
Client: National Museum of the American Indian | Location: Washington, DC
We used formative evaluation to help the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian refine messaging in Americans, a provocative exhibition that explores how Indians are intertwined with America’s national identity.
OVERVIEW
We worked with a cross-functional team at the National Museum of the American Indian to lead three phases of formative evaluation to help shape Americans, a new exhibition that presents hundreds of representations of Indians in imagery over time and prompts visitors to explore difficult truths about the relationship between Indians and America’s national identity.
Recognizing the complexity of the topic, the museum brought us on as a partner in using formative evaluation to help the exhibition strike an appropriate balance between stimulating and off putting.
APPROACH
Over nine months, we led three phases of formative evaluation to gradually refine development of the exhibition’s messaging and tone. In each phase, we led exploratory interviews with museum visitors to understand visitors’ reactions to:
The overall exhibition concept
Multiple iterations of introductory text
Exhibit prototypes, including object selections and interpretation, provocative films, memory timelines, and hands-on interactives
We quickly synthesized and presented trends between each phase, related to both individual exhibits as well as how the various exhibits, ideas, and interpretive strategies worked (or did not work) cohesively.
CLIENT TAKEAWAYS
Our work was critical to helping the museum understand how visitors were responding to the exhibition’s core ideas about the complexity of the relationship between Indians and American history and culture. For instance, visitors initially felt unmoored by an approach that was too open-ended and wanted to know where the museum stood. The museum used this feedback to revise the exhibition so it poses clear questions, is clear about the museum’s stance, and mixes direct and disarming language with elements of whimsy, surprise, and humor.
The result is an exhibition that expresses difficult truths about the country without distancing, while also inviting visitors to think critically and draw their own conclusions.
