Ekarv at the Royal Naval Museum

The Royal Naval Museum (RNM) followed the standard guidelines for Ekarv text, as presented in Museum Practice (issue 5,p72-75) and repeated below. However, staff at the museum emphasise that Ekarv should be seen more as an underlying philosophy than a series of steps to follow. They also warn against employing Ekarv without first being clear that it is suitable for an individual museum's circumstances, including its site and its actual and target audiences.

They advise others to use the system flexibly, adapting the guidelines set out below - or If necessary using a completely different system - to suit the needs of the museum, and with which they feel comfortable. For example, at the RNM they included specialist terms, but always put them in bold type and made sure that the sentence surrounding them was simple.

Guidelines for the Ekarv text method

Education officer Rebekah Moran warns that using Ekarv may not be easy and cautions others to:

• Take care not to over simplify concepts because the language is simple
• Make sure that texts do not become patronising as a result of their succinctness and simplicity
• Use simple language to express complex ideas
• Use normal spoken word order
• One main idea per line, end of line coinciding with natural end of phrase
• Lines of about 45 letters, text broken into short paragraphs of four to five lines
• Use the active form of verbs and state the subject early in the sentence
• Read text aloud and note natural pauses Adjust wording and punctuation to reflect the rhythm of speech
• Discuss texts with colleagues and consider their comments Co-ordinate the text writing with the design of displays
• Pin draft texts in their final positions to assess the effect Continually revise and refine the wording
• Concentrate the meaning to an almost poetic level Keep expectations high and do not avoid using the text to challenge visitors but Be alert to the risk of becoming over interested in the formal, poetic qualities of the text at the expense of its meaning
• Always use the text to focus visitors' attention on the objects on display; do not treat the text as an end in itself.
• Avoid: subordinate clauses, complicated constructions, and unnecessary adverbs, hyphenating words at the end of lines

At the RNM, panel text is a minimum of 14pt, mainly in Baskerville, a serif face, although Moran would have preferred a plainer sans serif face. As well as using the Ekarv method for panels, the museum used it to guide written text on multimedia screens. They also used the Ekarv method as a guide for laying out oral history quotations. White they did not wish to edit the quotations in any way, they followed the Ekarv idea of breaking lines where pauses occur in the text, to make it easier to understand.

Maurice Davies is Deputy Director of the Museums Association