Organising Information

Over the easter break I went to Berlin for a long weekend. This time I managed to visit the film museum which got me thinking about how curators organise and display different material. There was a lot of information giving a history of how films have evolved from early film pioneers til today's cinema. I was really impressed with the overall presentation of the information. You walked through 10-15 different rooms each completely different but with a feel of consistency and flow. Lots of mirrors and low ceilings gave you a sense of the excitement that would have occurred around the early days of cinema. The rooms were on different levels and throughout the journey you could look down at other people who were ahead of you. Over the past three years curation is something I have become increasingly aware of especially when I had to build an interactive museum guide for brighton musum. I think it is as important how things are displayed, as what they are. Good content can fail miserably if displayed badly. When you are trying to capture an audience, who doesn't know anything before they look at a series of work, you have to find a way of capturing their attention and keeping them engaged throughout. I think this way of thinking should be equally important for the course I am doing as it is the same with websites, books, posters, DVD menus etc.
The Invisible Computer by Donald Norman - A book I've been reading about the complexity of organising information on the computer.