Examination of information designs in museums of natural history in the framework of graphic design and scientific illustration

Museums are rich acculturalization and information spaces in terms of visitor diversity and visual narrative. The diversity and quality of museum exhibitions in terms of visual communication increases this richness and hence its importance. Graphic design applications at museums are expected to inform about the object in a simple but authentic way. They are also expected to be compatible with the environment of the museum. Visual presentations in Turkism museums, particularly in state museums, generally have qualification problems in the context of graphic design and informational design. Studying problems in information design that makes museums visually attractive and transmits the data of inventory to visitors and developing suggestions to fix these problems are increasingly becoming important. This dissertation aims to determine the problems of the information designs in natural history museums in the context of graphic design and scientific illustration, to develop suggestions for the solution of the identified problems, and to materialize designs based on these suggestions. Consequently, the dissertation examines the informational designs in natural history museums that are scrutinized in the framework of graphic design and scientific illustration and reveal the causes of the identified problems. Furthermore, it presents suggestions to solve the problems in question and an application study that is based on the suggestions developed. The work consists of five chapters, with the introduction being the first chapter. The second chapter deals with museums of natural history and informational designs and provides information about the informational designs in museums of natural history in Türkiye and the world. The third chapter address use of scientific illustration in informational design. The fourth chapter examines informational designs in museums of natural history in the context of informational graphics and scientific illustrations. The fifth and the last chapter present a suggestion for informational design developed for the Museum of Amphibians at Suleyman Demirel University. Keywords: Museums of natural history, museum graphics, informational design, scientific illustration, graphic design, visual communication design.