Text 1
Done well, words in museums can be fabulous. They can be full of story and ideas. They can be interesting, memorable, funny and thought-provoking. Well-written words encourage us to look at objects with new understanding.
Done badly… Ouch. We’ve all seen the dogged efforts of a visitor muttering words under their breath as they read. Badly written text excludes people or simply bores them. The message and voice are loud and clear - ‘This museum is not for you’.
Two paragraphs
80 words
7 sentences
8 polysyllabic words
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Text 2
Museum text offers opportunities for deeper personal and intellectual engagement with the museum’s collections and interpretive intent. By highlighting the cultural, social or economic context for an object or by providing a provocation for further reflection, written text can enhance the visitor experience. Conversely, ineffective text can engender a dislocation between visitor and institution leading to alienation and, ultimately, rejection.
One paragraph
57 words
3 sentences
21 polysyllabic words
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The words on the walls
The words on the walls are your voice in the room.
As visitors read your text, they take clues from your written tone of voice. They form an understanding of your museum and its values but they also get messages about what your museum expects of them. It’s a conversation and you need to make sure you are pitching it to the best effect.
At best, your written language encourages your readers/visitors to feel welcome, included, interested, engaged. At worst, they feel bored or excluded.
Thinking about tone of voice
All day every day, we adjust our spoken tone of voice depending on who we are talking to and what we are talking about. We make choices about words, vocal pitch and the focus of our conversations.
When it comes to writing, consciously using a specific tone of voice takes some work. Many people get stuck in their comfort zone of writing for particular people in specific contexts. Learning to write in a new tone of voice can take confidence, time and plenty of trial and error.
Tone of voice is rooted in choices about vocabulary, sentence length, narrative structure and grammar. But the right words are only half the job. We also need to find the right stories for our visitors and telling them in compelling ways.
There are plenty of rules about writing clear, accessible text but finding the right tone of voice for your museum starts with understanding yourselves and your relationship with your audience – then you can find the best words to tell stories, offer insight, evoke memories, encourage play… or whatever it is your museum wants to offer your visitors, welcomed and enabled by your well-chosen tone of voice.
Lucy Harland is the director of consultancy of Lucidity Media, and will be chairing the MA's one-day seminar What's the story: Creating Text that Connects with Audiences, which will take place on 24 January at M Shed in Bristol.
Done well, words in museums can be fabulous. They can be full of story and ideas. They can be interesting, memorable, funny and thought-provoking. Well-written words encourage us to look at objects with new understanding.
Done badly… Ouch. We’ve all seen the dogged efforts of a visitor muttering words under their breath as they read. Badly written text excludes people or simply bores them. The message and voice are loud and clear - ‘This museum is not for you’.
Two paragraphs
80 words
7 sentences
8 polysyllabic words
------------
Text 2
Museum text offers opportunities for deeper personal and intellectual engagement with the museum’s collections and interpretive intent. By highlighting the cultural, social or economic context for an object or by providing a provocation for further reflection, written text can enhance the visitor experience. Conversely, ineffective text can engender a dislocation between visitor and institution leading to alienation and, ultimately, rejection.
One paragraph
57 words
3 sentences
21 polysyllabic words
-------
The words on the walls
The words on the walls are your voice in the room.
As visitors read your text, they take clues from your written tone of voice. They form an understanding of your museum and its values but they also get messages about what your museum expects of them. It’s a conversation and you need to make sure you are pitching it to the best effect.
At best, your written language encourages your readers/visitors to feel welcome, included, interested, engaged. At worst, they feel bored or excluded.
Thinking about tone of voice
All day every day, we adjust our spoken tone of voice depending on who we are talking to and what we are talking about. We make choices about words, vocal pitch and the focus of our conversations.
When it comes to writing, consciously using a specific tone of voice takes some work. Many people get stuck in their comfort zone of writing for particular people in specific contexts. Learning to write in a new tone of voice can take confidence, time and plenty of trial and error.
Tone of voice is rooted in choices about vocabulary, sentence length, narrative structure and grammar. But the right words are only half the job. We also need to find the right stories for our visitors and telling them in compelling ways.
There are plenty of rules about writing clear, accessible text but finding the right tone of voice for your museum starts with understanding yourselves and your relationship with your audience – then you can find the best words to tell stories, offer insight, evoke memories, encourage play… or whatever it is your museum wants to offer your visitors, welcomed and enabled by your well-chosen tone of voice.
Lucy Harland is the director of consultancy of Lucidity Media, and will be chairing the MA's one-day seminar What's the story: Creating Text that Connects with Audiences, which will take place on 24 January at M Shed in Bristol.