Open Forum

Designers, I am wondering if there are people out there who have set up a Vectorworks template to address specific needs for exhibit designers?  I am curious how other organizations are labeling, organizing, and using classes, layers, and stories.  I would love to see how others are building record formats. What information are you tracking in regards to objects, cost tracking, and environmental impact data.  Have you built any cool tools or have you purchased any that you find invaluable for museum work.  What are some of the style choices that you use consistently.  Have you already input a bunch of material data into a template file?  I am curious about how other museum designers are setting up there files and I would love to chat about it.

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Jeni O'Malley
Sr. Exhibit Designer
Minnesota Historical Society
Saint Paul MN
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Hi Jeni,

Thanks for starting this thread, I'm really curious about this too!

I've been working as an exhibit designer for 25 years. In our studio, we start our drawing sets from a template we've developed. It contains our titleblocks for 11x17 drawings and 8.5x11 sketches. We have in-house styles for handling line weights and text, notes, leader lines, dimensions, layers and classes, etc.

Over time, we've developed our own people props and textures (we use our glass and birch plywood textures a lot and didn't care for the stock ones. We also have a small library of in-house symbols and objects we've modelled over time - things like plinths with vitrines, flip books, reading rails, mounts, plus a range of odds and ends - everything from Olympic torches to dinosaur fossils and milk jugs! Of course, we don't get to re-use much of it, because all our design work is bespoke, but it's nice to have some ready made items when you are pulling together a quick concept for something.

We deviate somewhat from the architectural approach to organizing our drawing sets. We don't always go with plans, elevations, sections. That's fine for buildings, but it is confusing when you have multiple fabricators building individual exhibits. We have overall plans that locate the exhibits in the space, then each exhibit element has it's own drawing set with a 3D render, plans, elevations, sections and details. That way, the drawing set can be pulled apart and handed over to different fabricators, without them having to have the entire set of drawings. It has worked well for us, and we consistently hear back from clients and fabricators that they like working with our drawings. I'd be curious to know how others organize their sets.

We don't use the record formats much, but they have been very useful when making inventory lists for travelling exhibits eg: how many stanchions or wall sections are on the plan?

PS - I'm a big fan of the Minnesota History Centre! Great exhibits there.


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Melanie Greenaway
Exhibit Designer
Double Dare Design
North Vancouver BC
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You sound like you have a good foundation.  I would love to get a few designers together to talk about work flow for museum designers.  You can find my contact info at jeniomalley.com I would love to connect and see if we can get a group together to share knowledge.  Hoping we can do a video call, but even just some file sharing would be nice.

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Jeni O'Malley
Sr. Exhibit Designer
Minnesota Historical Society
Saint Paul MN
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-11-2022 05:12 PM
From: Melanie Greenaway
Subject: Designers! How do you start your Vectorworks files?

Hi Jeni,

Thanks for starting this thread, I'm really curious about this too!

I've been working as an exhibit designer for 25 years. In our studio, we start our drawing sets from a template we've developed. It contains our titleblocks for 11x17 drawings and 8.5x11 sketches. We have in-house styles for handling line weights and text, notes, leader lines, dimensions, layers and classes, etc.

Over time, we've developed our own people props and textures (we use our glass and birch plywood textures a lot and didn't care for the stock ones. We also have a small library of in-house symbols and objects we've modelled over time - things like plinths with vitrines, flip books, reading rails, mounts, plus a range of odds and ends - everything from Olympic torches to dinosaur fossils and milk jugs! Of course, we don't get to re-use much of it, because all our design work is bespoke, but it's nice to have some ready made items when you are pulling together a quick concept for something.

We deviate somewhat from the architectural approach to organizing our drawing sets. We don't always go with plans, elevations, sections. That's fine for buildings, but it is confusing when you have multiple fabricators building individual exhibits. We have overall plans that locate the exhibits in the space, then each exhibit element has it's own drawing set with a 3D render, plans, elevations, sections and details. That way, the drawing set can be pulled apart and handed over to different fabricators, without them having to have the entire set of drawings. It has worked well for us, and we consistently hear back from clients and fabricators that they like working with our drawings. I'd be curious to know how others organize their sets.

We don't use the record formats much, but they have been very useful when making inventory lists for travelling exhibits eg: how many stanchions or wall sections are on the plan?

PS - I'm a big fan of the Minnesota History Centre! Great exhibits there.


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Melanie Greenaway
Exhibit Designer
Double Dare Design
North Vancouver BC
------------------------------

Hi Jeni,

This is a great question, and one that I have been wondering about myself! What sort of standards does the Minnesota Historical Society use? At the Field Museum we are currently reviewing our drawing standards, and plan to have templates with the information you mentioned. We are just using it as a drawing software, and don't include any BIM or other smart data. 

Did you hear from anyone else interesting in having a conversation about Vectorworks for exhibit design? I am definitely interested!

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Sarah Daley
Field Museum of Natural History
Chicago IL
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The Minnesota Historical Society doesn't have any departmental or institutional standards but I have a template, tools, a structure for how to set up classes and layer....and so on.  I would love to implement departmental standards to enhance the possibilities of collaboration within the software.  We use many freelance designers and often have interns.  I would love there design experience with us to be seamless and clear.  I would also love to connect to what others are doing.

I haven't gotten many responses on this platform but I do have other designer connections that might be interested in connecting to have a conversation on this topic.  I maybe found you on linkedin.  I will send you a message about connecting.

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Jeni O'Malley
Sr. Exhibit Designer
Minnesota Historical Society
Saint Paul MN
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 08-24-2022 09:32 AM
From: Sarah Daley
Subject: Designers! How do you start your Vectorworks files?

Hi Jeni,

This is a great question, and one that I have been wondering about myself! What sort of standards does the Minnesota Historical Society use? At the Field Museum we are currently reviewing our drawing standards, and plan to have templates with the information you mentioned. We are just using it as a drawing software, and don't include any BIM or other smart data. 

Did you hear from anyone else interesting in having a conversation about Vectorworks for exhibit design? I am definitely interested!

------------------------------
Sarah Daley
Field Museum of Natural History
Chicago IL
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