Due: February 6, 2026
Length: ~500–700 words (roughly 1–1½ pages)
Grading: Credit for thoughtful, well-reasoned responses (not for being “right”)
Moodle: link
Context
Last week we visited the art gallery and talked with the Jodi about the many decisions involved in designing an exhibition: selecting works, placing them in space, sequencing visitor experience, managing constraints, and balancing artistic intent with physical realities.
In this project, you will be designing multiple exhibitions across multiple rooms, involving both wall-mounted works and sculptures. This is not just an artistic problem — it is also a complex decision-making problem with many interacting constraints.
Before you start building or coding anything, this assignment asks you to step back and think carefully about how you would approach the problem.
Your Task
Write a short reflection explaining how you would approach the exhibition layout problem if you were responsible for designing it.
You do not need to give a final layout or a fully formal algorithm. Instead, focus on your thinking process and strategy.
Use the prompts below as guidance — you do not need to answer them as a numbered list, but your response should address most of them naturally.
Things to Consider in Your Reflection
1. Framing the Problem
- How would you define what makes a “good” exhibition layout?
- What goals might compete with one another (e.g., aesthetics vs. space limits, balance vs. emphasis)?
- What information would you need before making decisions?
2. Constraints and Trade-offs
- What kinds of constraints are unavoidable?
(Examples: wall space, room size, artwork size, visitor flow, visibility, lighting, safety.) - How would you deal with conflicts between constraints?
- Are some constraints “hard” (must be satisfied) and others “soft” (preferences)?
3. Strategy and Approach
- Would you try to place everything at once, or build the exhibition incrementally?
- Would you start with the most important or most restrictive pieces first? Why?
- Would you expect to revise and backtrack as you go?
4. Heuristics and Rules of Thumb
- What simple rules or heuristics might help guide placement decisions?
- For example: grouping similar works, spacing rules, focal points, or flow patterns.
- How might spatial heuristics (distance, adjacency, balance, symmetry, progression) matter?
5. Algorithmic Thinking
- Does this feel more like a greedy approach, a trial-and-error approach, or a hybrid?
- Where might backtracking or revision be unavoidable?
- How would you recognize when a partial solution is “good enough” to keep?
6. Reflection
- What do you think will be the hardest part of this project?
- What aspects feel unpredictable or subjective?
- How did the gallery visit influence how you think about the problem?
Expectations
- This is a thinking and reasoning assignment, not a technical one.
- You may use informal language, sketches in words, or examples.
- A sentence or two per idea is often enough — clarity matters more than length.
- There is no single correct approach; you are being evaluated on careful, informed thinking.