ABSTRACT
Curators, conservators, academics and designers were steeped in an atmosphere of public service in which they were required to budget wisely but, more importantly, they were to serve the public with exhibitions and displays specifically designed to enlighten and inform. Exhibitions were specifically designed with by-products in mind that would relate to the exhibitions but be available in the shops as souvenirs or toys. There is a truth in exhibitions: the real thing is there, be it a car or boat for eventual sale, real dinosaur bones, and a fossil or ancient artefact. Architects leaped at exhibition design; large design companies known for graphics, 3-D, packaging or interiors suddenly added exhibitions to their list of capabilities. In the large organizations that had employed design teams to do their exhibition work there had been time for experiment, for a body of experience and knowledge to build up.
