Take a blank plan and consider what it looks like when a visitor enters the exhibition for the first time. Where do their eyes go? In which direction do they naturally turn? What stops them, leads them to turn away, or prompts them to walk by an exhibit without seeing it at all? These decisions and movements are what a visitor-route plan documents, before a single object, plinth, cabinet, panel, or sign goes into the exhibition space. The plan helps you see the space in terms of the viewer’s journey through it rather than as an empty void.
Roughly draw the room on squared paper. Label the doors in, doors out, windows, columns, swinging doors, tight corridors, and other spaces that can’t have exhibit displays. The drawing does not have to be pretty, but it does need to be to-scale enough to give the general sense of when space will restrict a visitor’s movement. Start at the entrance with an arrow and follow it through the exhibition space. Don’t worry if the visitor route looks a little messy. You may see a visitor cross the room, move back for an expansive view, step toward an attractive item of furniture in another room, or see two options for two different sections. If that’s the case, represent it on your plan with a branching arrow.
Next, mark where visitors will stop as they walk through your visitor-route plan. Don’t yet indicate which objects will go there, only where they will stand. Some of these areas might serve as points to introduce a visitor to the exhibition, others might highlight your first main comparison, and later might be strong areas for clustering objects. Leave enough space for visitors to walk from point to point while taking in the changing story. If you mark a spot to stop at every wall, your exhibition will feel exhausting, and if visitors walk for a long time without seeing either a change of visual tone or a transition of sections, they won’t know how the exhibition hangs together.
One common pitfall for exhibition designers new to visitor routes is when the plan is used as a two-dimensional puzzle. Objects and displays might appear to fit easily on paper, while in reality, some objects block the view of other objects. A display cabinet in front of an entrance may make the following section impossible to see. A wall-sized graphic panel may disrupt the flow of the visitor route. A narrow gap between a plinth and an adjacent wall may not register as a problem in a small-scale drawing but might feel too tight for a visitor to comfortably stand beside. Take measurements for a few main items, and note your thoughts on viewing distances, space to turn, and ease of access while your ideas are flexible and can be moved easily.
When you are comfortable with the visitor’s route, add cut-out object cards with information on them and position them in your plan. Begin with objects that will support the main story of your exhibition and place them in significant resting spots. Other objects, text panels, and supplementary images can be arranged later. Does the most important object show too far in the room? Does the next section show too soon? Must your visitors turn a full ninety degrees to read the section title? Your visitor-route plan serves your interpretive plan, but it should not be rigid enough that visitors must stop at every point to avoid going the wrong way.
Go through your visitor-route drawing as if walking through your exhibition. Slowly run your finger down the length of the arrow, describing what you would expect to find as visitors reach that point. Reverse the flow of the route to simulate someone coming from another door, even though it is not your main entrance. This will help you to identify problems like unclear section transitions, obscured labels, or displays that don’t work from more than one vantage point. A good visitor-route plan doesn’t predict every step your visitors take. It simply sets the spatial organization of the room so that people can decide how and when to stop.