WPSF

“Cost per square foot” is a useful ratio.

Likewise, “occupants per square foot” and “sales per square foot.” What other “amounts per square foot” could be useful?

Here’s one: “words per square foot.”

Say we have 50 paintings in a 50 x 50 room (2,500 SF). We write a 50-word label for each: title, artist, medium, caption. 2,500 words total. Divide 2,500 words by 2,500 SF. That’s 1 “word per square foot”, aka 1.0 WPSF.

Would we view 50 artworks and read 50 words for each? Sure.

If we wrote 100-word labels, that’s 5,000 words. 2.0 WPSF.

If we added five 500-word wall texts, that adds 2,500 words. 7,500 total. Wordy but not uncommon. 3.0 WPSF. Hm.

200-word labels, 10 wall texts? 15,000 words — 6.0 WPSF. Yikes.

We ran WPSF on some actual current projects. A media-rich history exhibition: 1.5 WPSF for printed text — but there is a media script we haven’t counted. A children’s exhibition: 0.5 WPSF. Ahh.

Here’s the thing:
“Words per square foot” is one way to see how many words are too many.

What’s the WPSF on your current project?

Warmly,
Jonathan

P.S. For comparison, the article above contains 200 words, a common MtM word length.

P.P.S. HOLIDAY BREAK: Because of this year’s mid-week holidays, MtM will take a two-week break after this week, returning to your inbox on Tuesday, 6 Jan 2026.

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MtM Word of the Day:
Object type. A categorical classification for an artifact in a museum database. Example types: paintings, tools, textiles, books, forks. Tagging artifacts with one or more types helps guide conservation, storage, and interpretation strategies.