layout is key to an effective museum

I think that the layout of a museum is important for it to be effective because without a clear purpose for viewing the artifacts, you resort to wandering around aimlessly. I noticed how effective a clear layout for a museum was when I was visiting Washington, D.C. Each Smithsonian houses a tremendous amount of objects and information and in order to have a good experience and maximize your visit you need to have a clear understanding of what the museum offers. For example, in the Museum of American History there are sections devoted to certain time periods so that if you are interested in the Civil War you can visit a section that gives more information and exhibits for that particular era in American history. This gives the visitor more power over what they view and how much they view in a museum. This is especially important when a museum hold such an immense amount of objects or covers an long period of time in history. I think that a clear layout and thoughtful grouping of objects adds to the quality of a museum because it gives the people the power to learn as much as they want and get the most out of their visit. Since this particular museum was very large maps were extremely important because it gets you to and from any exhibit in the building. This also helps to maximize the amount of time you spend at a museum and can increase the experience that a person has. The layout and grouping of objects is also important in smaller museums because if there is no sense of order or continuity within a museum or gallery the visitors can become confused as to what they should take away from an exhibit. Having a clear understanding of the pieces in a museum and providing an easy to navigate layout makes visiting a museum more effective.