The Works Museum visit

The Works Museum Visit

Signs on the main floor:

All the signs on the main floor had the same layout. I appreciated this because then I knew what to look for when I wanted to find out more about about an exhibit. I like the bold colors, it definitely draws my eye to the sign. I also like the headings and find the picture is useful for visual learners. The splash of blue makes it easy to see what each exhibit is. This design inspired my own layout for my sidebar. The content is laid out like most museum exhibits with a variation of the 'To Do', 'Notice' and 'What's Going On' section.

side note:  I would like to incorporate elements from the Mill City signs as well. I still love the recipe cards from Mill City and hope to use some elements from that sign as well, namely using an interesting shape that relates to the topic. 

The layout for the signs in the design lab is a little bit different. The color scheme is similar, with a purple and orange border, but instead of the title of the exhibit in blue, this time it is green. The design lab signs read more like instructions or challenges. This one tells you to take one scoop of foam balls and toothpicks and try and add onto the sculpture already on the table. There is also a reminder not to take anything home at the top. This is is bold, boxed in, and at a different angle than the rest of the text to help set it apart so people will notice it. This inspired me with our own group signage. Our sidebars don't have to be huge tri-folds, but could be letter sized papers. The only struggle is how much to fit on the paper without looking cluttered.

The exhibits

I went once with the girls from class and then took my family the next day. It was great to actually go to a museum with children and watch how they interact with the exhibits and how long they stay at each one. There were two clear winners for my family. The first one was the kinex cars.

At this exhibit, visitors could build a car or any sort of wheeled vehicle with kinex blocks. They can race them, watch how they go down the ramp, or time their speed. One child I noticed tested his vehicle, modified it, tested it, modified it.... the whole time we were in the downstairs part of the museum. Everyone in the family spent lots of time building their own vehicles (lots of different designs) and then we raced each other. This exhibit had active engagement and we spent a lot of time there as well. I think if we went back the kids would be excited to build cars again and bring with them the knowledge they gained from previous interactions.

The second big hit of the day was in the design lab. The kids could build structures with magnets. At first the kids played around with the magnets and then slowly started to build things. Yuan focused on her own design and Jedi made something pictured on the challenges. Then they switched, Jedi built blocks of magnets and investigated how strong the magnets were. Yuan and Bry made a fancy cube that was pictured in the challenge as well. At one point it drew us all in to try and help them make it. 

I think this one was also active and prolonged, we spent over an hour in the design lab. I think the other thing that was great about these two exhibits is that the whole family could get involved, it wasn't one person interacting and the rest of the family watching, everyone had their hands on something. 

And Justine look! Remember your paper tower?

It was taped to the door when I went the next day!