Here at the Springs Preserve in Las Vegas we have textured walls, which gave us trouble with our labels not staying up. The process we came up with is to staple a smaller piece of mat board to the wall using regular T50 staples. We then use a double-stick tape gun (Scotch ATG 700) applied to the piece on the wall, then stick the slightly bigger label onto that. That gives us a slightly floating label.
And I agree with Julie's assessment of the DIY labels. I'm constantly reminding our interns to allow for breathing white space around text if possible. They seem to want text right up to a cut edge.
We've got our system down to a science. Label info goes into an Excel spreadsheet that gets saved as a cvs file, imported into InDesign using Data Merge, design the template and export merged labels. I then go and hand adjust any outliers that may possibly wrap and force data off the edge and adjust those styles. Using a great little InDesign script called StyLighter that color codes all the paragraph styles different colors so i can easily see something that looks out of place.
Original Message:
Sent: 01-25-2024 02:46 PM
From: Amanda Cheatham
Subject: Label Standardization
Hi Hanna and all,
Thank you for posing the question Hanna. I love seeing these responses. I have a copy of Beverly's book on back order an anxiously await it's arrival. I was a graphic designer in a previous life and in my heart I still am. Matt, I'm very interested in this latex printer you mention and also wonder how you adhere the mat board backed labels to the wall. We are running into issues with repainted walls not allowing our label "sandwich" to adhere and we frequently have to recreate and rehang labels.
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Amanda Cheatham
Exhibition Designer/Museum Registrar
Windgate Museum of Art at Hendrix College
Conway AR
Original Message:
Sent: 01-24-2024 06:57 PM
From: Matthew Isble
Subject: Label Standardization
Hi Hanna, Have you seen Beverly Serrell's book Exhibit Labels? It may give you the insights you looking for in regard to "policies and procedures". It's a great book. Her newest edition is due to come out any day now!
As for the first part of your inquiry, do you have an ideal size you're looking to produce? At the Crocker we do 8.5x11 as well as 8.5x5.5 for just the base amount of info (we call them tombstones, not sure if everyone calls them that?). We occasionally go linger when need be, but most of our permanent collection labels adhere to the full sheet size labels.
As for the template, we use InDesign to load up all the labels. I can share that template, but it's nothing special. Just some boxes of various wall colors and grid lines for the outsides. We print everything to an adhesive backed material using an HP Latex printer. For our permanent collection we adhere the label to mat board and cut off the perimeter (maybe this is the part you're trying to avoid) for the temp exhibits we cut off the excess and stick them right to the walls.
What kind of printer do you have?
How many labels do you make for each show?
Describe your ideal work flow including budget of time and resources?
I'm a nerd for this work, I'm happy to problem solve the best solution for your situation....
Cheers,
Matt
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Matthew Isble
Exhibit Designer & Founder of MuseumTrade.org
misble@crockerartmuseum.org
Crocker Art Museum
Sacramento CA
misble@crockerartmuseum.org
Original Message:
Sent: 01-22-2024 04:51 PM
From: Hanna McKellar
Subject: Label Standardization
Hello! I am looking for some resources on museum label standardization - we are hoping to find some sort of template so we can easily create same-size labels without hand cropping each individual label. I would also love to see any label policies/procedures regarding labels if people are willing to share! :)
thank you!
Hanna McKellar
curator
Bar Harbor Historical Society
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Hanna McKellar
Curator
Bar Harbor Historical Society
Bar Harbor ME
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