Interactive Engineering Experiences

InterExhibits is a Miami-based company dedicated to designing and manufacturing unique interactive exhibits, with a strong focus on engineering education for museums, science centers, and educational institutions.

Our first exhibit, the Jet Engine Simulator, captures visitors' attention by allowing them to safely control a simulated airliner jet engine while discovering the fundamental principles of jet propulsion through hands-on interaction.

This is just the beginning. Many more innovative exhibits are already in development—stay tuned.

Philosophy

A great exhibit is safe, intuitive, durable, and accessible, transforming invisible principles into memorable hands-on experiences that spark curiosity and reward exploration, all brought together in a beautiful, modern design built to the standards of the world's best museums.

Design Principles

These principles guide the design of every InterExhibits exhibit. They are inspired by decades of research and experience from pioneers in museum learning, exhibit design, human factors, and engineering.

1. Safety first. No one should be exposed to unreasonable risk.

2. Reward curiosity. Encourage participation, exploration, and discovery rather than simply presenting information.

3. Design for everyone. Create experiences that are accessible to:

• Children

• Adults

• Seniors

• Wheelchair users

• Visitors with limited reach, low vision or hearing impairments

4. Make interaction obvious. Visitors should instinctively know how to interact without instructions.

• Require little force

• Be easy to understand

• Provide immediate feedback

• Be usable with one hand

• Avoid requiring precise movements

5. Build for reliability. Design for years of heavy public use with minimal maintenance and easy servicing.

6. Engage multiple senses. Create experiences where sight, touch, and sound work together.

7. Don’t overwhelm people with too much information, while allowing curious visitors to discover deeper layers of information.

8. Create a natural visitor journey:

• Capture attention

• Invite interaction

• Provide immediate feedback

• Encourage exploration

• Reveal the underlying concept

• Leave visitors wanting to learn more

9. Communicate with as little text as possible. Whenever possible, use:

• Real phenomena

• Movement

• Color

• Light

• Symbols

• Icons

• Animations

• Physical demonstrations

10. Reveal the invisible. Make invisible scientific and engineering principles visible and understandable.

11. Simplicity makes exhibits easier to understand, more reliable, and less intimidating.

12. Hands-on first, screens second. Technology should enhance hands-on experiences—not replace them.

13. Design to inspire. Every exhibit should be beautiful, modern, and built to the standards of the world's best museums.

14. Every interaction should have a purpose—not exist merely for entertainment.

Resources

The following publications have significantly influenced our approach to exhibit design.

• The Museum Experience — John Howard Falk, Lynn Diane Dierking

• The Manual of Museum Exhibitions — Barry Lord

• The Participatory Museum — Nina Simon

• Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning — Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel

• Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines — CAST

• Designing for People — Henry Dreyfuss

• The Design of Everyday Things — Don Norman

• Hands-on Exhibitions — Tim Caulton

• Exhibit Conception And Design — Frank Oppenheimer, Exploratorium

• Exhibit Labels: An Interpretive Approach — Beverly Serrell

• Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things — Don Norman

• Touchscreen Kiosks in Museums — Ivan Burmistrov

• Designing Science Museum Exhibits With Multiple Interactive Features: Five Common Pitfalls — Sue Allen And Joshua Gutwill, Exploratorium

Acknowledgment: We gratefully acknowledge these authors and organizations for advancing the field of museum exhibit design and inspiring countless hands-on learning experiences around the world.