Exhibition Labels That Work at Reading Distance

A label that works at reading distance is short, set large, and mounted so it can be read without leaning in. Aim for 60 to 100 words of body text, 16 to 18 point type for the main line, and a matt board behind it. Everything else follows from those three numbers.

The job of a caption is to carry a collection. A visitor arrives with no context, reads for perhaps twenty seconds, and leaves with one fact and one feeling. The label does that work, not the object. A quilt, a survey map or a set of cemetery records can sit in a case for a season; the label is what turns it into a story someone can repeat. If the text fails, the object becomes furniture.

Museums of every size face the same problem, and the small ones feel it most because the same volunteer writes the label, prints it and mounts it. The trade has settled on a rough set of rules over the past forty years, and they hold whether the case sits in a county heritage room or a national gallery. A a Texas county timeline is a useful reminder of how much a single region can hold, and how much a label has to leave out.

How long should an exhibition label be?

Sixty to 100 words for the main label. Twenty to forty for a tombstone, the short caption that sits beside a single object. A section panel can run to 150 words, but no more, because a visitor reads standing up.

The first line carries the object: what it is, who made it, when. The second line says why it matters. The third, if there is one, gives the human detail that makes it stick. Anything beyond that belongs in a catalogue, a website or a talk.

Write the label before the case is laid out. Text written after the objects are placed tends to describe what the curator sees rather than what the visitor needs. Draft it, read it aloud, and cut a third.

What type size and length work at reading distance?

Sixteen to eighteen point for the main body. Twenty-four to thirty point for the object title. Eleven point is a caption for a book, not a wall.

Reading distance in a museum case is roughly 400 to 600 mm. At that range, 16 point is comfortable and 12 point is a squint. The rule of thumb from the accessibility guidance is simple: if you have to lean in, the type is too small.

Line length matters as much as size. Keep the measure between 45 and 65 characters. A label 200 mm wide at 16 point gives roughly 50 characters a line, which is about right. Longer lines make the eye lose its place on the return sweep.

Line spacing should sit at 1.3 to 1.5 times the type size. Tighter than that and the block looks like a grey slab. Looser and the reader loses the thread between lines.

What does the mount have to do?

A label mount has three jobs: hold the text flat, keep it off the case floor, and stop glare. Matt board does all three. Gloss board does none of them.

Use 2 mm or 3 mm board for a small label, 5 mm for a section panel. Foam board is light and cheap but it warps in a humid room, which a county museum in a Texas summer will notice. Mount board with an acid-free facing costs more and lasts decades.

Angle the label towards the reader. A flat label on the floor of a case is read at a glancing angle, and the top of the text disappears. A 30 to 45 degree tilt fixes it. Acrylic stands are sold for this and cost a few pounds each.

Keep the label out of the light path. If a spotlight throws a hot spot across the text, move the light, not the label. Anti-reflective acrylic helps, but it is a second fix, not a first.

Which printing decisions matter most?

Print on matt or uncoated stock. Gloss paper under a spotlight is a mirror.

For a single label, a desktop laser printer on 160 to 200 gsm card is fine. The toner sits on the surface and does not smudge, and the card holds its shape in a stand. Inkjet on the same card can cockle if the coverage is heavy.

For a run of twenty labels or more, a local print shop will set them on a single sheet and trim them. Expect about £40 to £80 for a short run on 200 gsm uncoated card, depending on the number of colours. Ask for the same stock each time, so a replacement label matches the set.

Colour is a decision, not a default. Black text on a warm off-white reads better than black on pure white under gallery lighting, which is often slightly warm. Avoid coloured text for body copy. A dark grey at 80 per cent black is easier on the eye than full black and prints more evenly.

How do you test a label before it goes in the case?

Print it at final size, mount it on the board you intend to use, and put it in the case. Stand where a visitor stands. Read it.

This takes ten minutes and catches most problems. Type that looked fine on screen at 100 per cent zoom is often too small on the wall. A line that read smoothly on the desk breaks badly when the measure is wrong.

Ask one person who does not know the collection to read it and tell you what the object is. If they cannot, the first line is doing too little work. If they can, but cannot say why it matters, the second line needs attention.

Check the label against the object one last time. Dates, names and measurements are the common errors, and a wrong date on a wall will be quoted back for years.

What a caption has to carry

A label is the smallest piece of writing a museum publishes and the one most people read. It has to hold a name, a date, a reason and a human detail, in that order, in under 100 words, at a size that works from half a metre away.

Get the length, the type size, the mount and the stock right, and the collection does the rest. Get them wrong, and the visitor walks past a case of objects with no way in.