Exhibit design, part 2: showing your collection online

An online exhibition reaches people who will never visit a stamp show, costs almost nothing, and lasts as long as you keep it up. Artists have been putting their work online for years, and most of their advice applies closely to stamps. This is part 2 of a guide to exhibit design; part 1 covers planning the story, choosing and ordering items, writing captions and keeping paper safe — all of which matter just as much online.

Images are everything

Online, the picture is the stamp. Scan or photograph each item sharply, under even light, with accurate colour, cropped neatly and kept straight. A flatbed scanner is the easiest way to get consistent results for stamps and covers; for photographs, use daylight or two lamps at an angle, and avoid glare from glossy paper.

Keep the full-size originals. You will want them again — for a printed exhibit, a sale, an insurance record or a better version of the online show.

Presenting it

• Start with the idea. A short introduction that says, in a sentence or two, what the visitor is about to see — the same plan as part 1, not a description of every item.
• Be consistent. The same background, caption style and layout throughout, so the stamps are what people notice.
• Caption every item with what it is, its date, and — for stamps — a catalogue number, plus a line on why it is in the exhibit.
• Use sections for the chapters of your story, and make it obvious where the visitor is.
• Keep it simple. A well-made web page often works better than an elaborate virtual gallery: it loads faster and reads well on a phone. Test it on both.

Virtual galleries, tours and sharing

Dedicated platforms such as ArtSteps and Exhibbit build three-dimensional virtual galleries, and some collectors use them to recreate a frame-by-frame walk through their exhibit. They are worth trying if your exhibit already exists as frames; for most collections a plain page is enough.

Live online tours and question-and-answer sessions, popular with artists, work just as well for a society meeting: share your screen, walk through the pages, and take questions.

Share a direct link wherever collectors gather, and leave the exhibit up afterwards. An online exhibit is a lasting record of your collection. Add it to the “Exhibitions and awards” section of your profile, so other collectors with the same interests can find it.

Further reading

Written for artists rather than collectors, but clear and practical:

• Virtual art exhibitions: a practical guide — Insitu Art Room: choosing, ordering, photographing and presenting work online.
• Creating online exhibitions — The Art Fair Guy: platforms, organising by theme, and adding interactivity.