A few weeks ago, a friend and I visited the Hecht Museum on the campus of the University of Haifa. It is a small museum containing mainly archeological discoveries from the area. As I strolled through the exhibits, I was impressed with the many communication techniques used to make complex and multidimensional data understandable.
While museum curators are not in the business of writing traditional TechComm content, such as user guides and product manuals, they too need to present information clearly and in a compelling manner.
Here are some of the techniques that we, as TechComm professionals, can adopt, adapt, and apply to our content:
Visual signposting
The Hecht Museum arranges the exhibits in chronological order. Starting with the oldest finds, you move through time room by room. Within each exhibit area, a timeline shows where you are, labeling the era (for example, neolithic) ...