Been gearing up for the 2011 Larchmere Porchfest. How good do these sunny days look about now?

My wife and I recently had a great time at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, despite having missed the live animals (including owls!) and the world class planetarium. It’s a brilliant educational thing to do, especially for kids. But we began to notice a Museum of Museum Displays, along side the Natural History. The current exhibit, Extreme Mammals includes large signage with nice-looking graphics. They are mounted at strategic locations containing plenty of interesting information. (No photos allowed in this exhibit, so you’ll have to see it to believe it.)

Exiting the current exhibit area, while wandering deeper into the building, it’s almost like traveling through time. The next thing I remember was a Tron era computer with type and graphics to go with it. (Hadn’t yet begun taking photos of the displays.) Continuing deeper into the museum, there are even older graphics. Including hand-made displays, along with typewriter copy. (Please excuse the the low-light iPhone photography.)

In the Native American section, there is some really nice hand-cut lettering with graphic shapes to tie everything together:

Sometimes, just really simple old-school presstype lettering on a colored background:

Finally, from the days when entire departments were devoted to sharp blades and smelly glues, here are dimensional shapes and words, illustrating apes evolution to man:

It’s interesting to see how technology and tactics of design has changed over the years. And this museum contains perfectly preserved examples of several eras of historical signage and museum displays which, for design professionals, can be as engaging as the content within. Go check it out. Go before nightfall if you care to see the live animals. And on Wednesdays they are open later, and you’ll get a couple bucks off regular admission.

GOOD does an amazing job with infographics. Not only are they very well designed, but they are usually very interesting, content-wise. Check out this one regarding money companies spend on advertising. And browse here among several other infographics.