Workshop 8:
The Interpretation Design Strategy Model

Nuntamon Kutalad

Since an exhibition is the first core element people consider when visiting a museum, an exhibition must be well-designed with plans at the beginning. Apart from fun and inspiration, one of the crucial characteristics of a well-designed museum exhibition is ease and simplicity. This term refers to an exhibition’s displays, contents, and atmosphere. To reach this characteristic, interpretation theory combined with service design can be a solution. Interpretation is a critical practice that should not be overlooked during design. The Interpretation Design Strategy Model (Kutalad, 2021) was developed based on Service Design Thinking to help create well-designed museum exhibition characteristics.

Designing an exhibition with the above mentioned characteristics in Thai museums is quite challenging, as museums are still seen as obsolete, especially for teenagers. Many Thai museums try to win teenagers’ hearts, including the Thai Philatelic Museum in Bangkok. This museum currently plans to renovate its permanent exhibition with the target of teenagers. The considerable challenge of this renovation is how to encourage teenagers to appreciate and recognise the significance of postal stamps as a form of material culture. The Interpretation Design Strategy Model is brought as a tool for this project’s designers to enhance their design ideas to create an exhibition that provides ease and simplicity.

This workshop aims to bring participants the Interpretation Design Strategy Model to present how it strategically shapes ideas in planning museum exhibition design. The expected outcome is understanding the relation between interpretation and service design and the ability to adapt this model in real-life practice.