This is a very good topic to discuss.  Please post your responses so that we 
all can follow.

Here at The Charlotte Museum of History, we are trying to move toward ADA 
approved/compliant signage.  While there is a great deal of ADA material with 
specifications, it's a lot to navigate and extrapolate to specific exhibit 
applications.  If someone has found a good reference manual for museums I 
would love to know about it.

Currently what we face is trying to adhere to the standards while using 
existing structures that aren't exactly correct.  For example, in a recently 
opened gallery (for many reasons to numerous to list) we needed to reuse the 
existing case structure, which is not way off but not what I would have 
chosen if we could have started entirely from scratch.  So, we did the best 
we could - made sure the font was large enough even if we couldn't get it at 
exactly the right place spatially.

The other issue we wrestled with was what exactly is the correct font size.  
Here are the sources I used.
Standards Manual for Signs and Labels, Professional Practice Series from the 
AAM, created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Exhibit Labels: An Interpretive Approach, by Beverly Serrell   
The Manual of Museum Exhibitions, Edited by Barry Lord and Gail Dexter Lord

These all are really great sources.  However, each one treats various exhibit 
elements in slightly different ways.  So, you'll have to best guess how the 
recommendations fit with your specific project.  Additionally, the font size 
recommendations are not exactly the same, but they are close.  Which means 
I couldn't define an end-all-be-all rule, but more of general guidelines.  You will 
also need to be careful about the type face you choose.  Not only for legibility 
but also because what may be at the right size at 40 point in one font is not 
the same in another.

For this recent project we were working on an abbreviated timeline.  Best 
case, you would have the opportunity to see the all the various graphics at 
size to make fine tuning adjustments.  What we discovered was, although all 
the font is at appropriate size, certain elements we would have done slightly 
differently.  However, now we're more informed moving forward.  It's all part of 
the process.

As for placement of signage, the above sources can also help with that.  I 
think the Standards Manual for Signs and Labels does a really good job looking 
at that particular aspect.

I hope this is helpful.  Please feel free to contact me if there's anything 
specifically about our experience that you might want to know about.

Lee Goodan
Exhibits Coordinator
The Charlotte Museum of History
704-568-1774
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