One of the fastest ways to make an exhibition feel more expensive is simple: Make all the white lights the same color temperature. Many exhibition spaces accidentally mix lighting color temperatures. Bleh. …

Many of us make exhibitions on subjects that are emotionally and politically difficult. (Some of us do nothing but.) War. Slavery. Genocide. Colonialism. Refugees. Terrorism. Injustice. In museum-speak, this is difficult history. …

Laura steps up to a display case to look at an eye-catching ceramic bowl. The label says to notice the painted rim. But all she sees is the reflection of a bright track light. She shifts left, then right. Then bends a little. …

Most objects in museum collections are photosensitive — they can be harmed by light. To preserve such objects, we can only display them lit dimly. So we have to light galleries dimly too, and even use dark interior colors. We end up with a lot of darkness. But …

White walls reflect light, creating glare and flattening contrast. Our eyes adapt to the brightest surfaces, shrinking pupils faster than they can expand again. Our eyes can never rest. That makes it hard to see details in things nearby. If not white, then what? …

Why are so many museum gallery walls white? Good question. Because white is hardly ever the best color for effective display, or human visual comfort. The “white cube” idea originated 100 years ago with MoMA and the Bauhaus …

For a while I imagined it was some regional feud, like that east-west hip hop thing in the 90’s. But it turns out to be another one of those trick questions. When to use each? It depends. Let’s put the imaginary feud aside and give each its due. …

“Color temperature” is a term you’ll often hear in museum projects. Or should. :) The term means the warmth or coolness of white light from a source, measured in “kelvin” units, or “K”. But there’s more. There’s a whole, er, spectrum. …

If I had a dollar for every time I had to talk someone out of still trying to use a projector in a bright exhibition space, I’d have … many dollars. Anyway, it happens a lot. Despite our optimism that it will work anyway. Here’s why it won’t. (Ever.) …

The audience hushes as the actor enters. She glides through shadows to a pool of light, and begins to speak. In a dark theater, an actor is irrelevant until they are lit. If the actor isn’t lit, the actor isn’t there. The same is true in exhibition design. …

That black circle in your eye is not a dot. It’s a hole in your eyeball. Your pupils are black like a keyhole is black when the room beyond has no light. (Guess what causes redeye in a photo. Take your time. Hint: it’s a little gross.) …

One of the most common mistakes we make involves pupils. Not students. The other kind. We all love spaces with light walls. White, or off-white. Light walls brighten a room, reduce artificial lighting, feel safer, seem modern. Sure. But. …

Lighting exhibitions of light-sensitive artifacts is really hard. We often do it wrong — and end up with dimly lit beige objects, on dim beige fabric panels, in dim beige rooms. Artifacts still have to pop, even though almost no light is allowed on them. …

Personal screens today have two modes. The original light mode is dark-text-on-light: good in a bright room, so-so in a dark one.  Thankfully, we now have dark mode too: light-text-on-dark, which is much better in dark rooms. Which brings me to exhibitions. …

Is lighting art or science? If you’re a curator tasked with lighting design, where do you start? Lighting designers Steven Rosen and Ted Mather (Available Light) join host Jonathan Alger (C&G Partners) on Making the Museum to discuss "Revealing the Story with Light". …

LED tiles come in different “pitches”. But what is pitch? Which is best? LEDs are teensy lights in black tiles that build walls like bricks. The fineness of the image depends on the spacing between the lights. That spacing is called “pitch”. …

One of the most common mistakes we make involves pupils. Not students. The other kind. We all love spaces with light walls. Light walls brighten a room, reduce artificial lighting, feel safer, seem modern. But they also make some things on display look awful …