Many museums, galleries and other public visitor sites look to make their spaces more consumer-friendly and to generate some revenue with purchases of exhibit tie-ins and other brand-centric products. Feeding the bottom line is a necessity for not-for-profit institutions that primarily rely on donations and grants to stay open and grow.
The near-total consumer acceptance of digital cameras has museums considering ways that will generate revenues while pleasing their visitors who love to take snaps.
For the kiosk and self-service industry, the application that would appear to best fit this sector is the photo kiosk with print capability. The theory is that visitors would on impulse print those shots they took as they viewed the latest exhibit of dinosaur bones or Picasso's Blue Period.
Besides printing, some museums are finding uses for new technology that offers just plain fun applications that also provide a source of revenue. For example, a California firm is marketing a kiosk-application where visitors purchase a personalized DVD with movement and sound.
However, the photo kiosk in the museum and gallery space runs into some logistical challenges specific to the industry that limits pick up of the concept.
Museum photo kiosks are typically located for maximum exposure in the gift shop or near an entry/exit point. Once at the kiosk, the visitor inserts her camera's photo card into the appropriate slot and views the images on a monitor. The visitor selects an image and pays with a swipe of a card, and the kiosk prints a low-resolution image.
One common business arrangement calls for the kiosk to be installed, operated and maintained by a third-party supplier while the museum earns a proscribed share of the revenues.
Besides selling the print, the museum may be able to convince the visitor to buy something in the gift shop or grab a cup of coffee in the museum café and enjoy the photo.
Branding opportunities include an identifying name or image directly on the print paper. Presumably a photo will include material from an exhibit setting off memories whenever it is viewed.
The obvious deal-stopper on kiosk-printing is whether the museum or gallery even allows photos to be taken inside the building. The J. Paul Getty Museum has decided against photos due to copyright issues and the damage caused by the flash, says Nik Honeysett, head of administration at the Santa Monica, Calif., museum.
Competition from other printing sources may discourage purchasing. Consumers don't think to print photos while out and about and instead plan to take their photo card to the local drug store, says Edward Crowley, executive vice president of PicsWare in York, Penn.
"You have to really market this idea well, or people will just go to CVS or Walgreens. These types of retailers have really captured the mind share on where to print," said Crowley, whose firm provides a portable photo-tagging solution on cruise ships, sporting events and other public gathering spots.
Two other issues — litter and lines — have kept the Smithsonian Institution, one of the world's largest museum complexes, from installing photo kiosks.
A visitor taking a photo is a common sight at the 19 museums that fall under the Smithsonian umbrella in Washington, D.C. The 30 million visitors in 2009 paid nothing to enter those museums and galleries as federal dollars cover about 70 percent of the Smithsonian's budget.
Despite that foundation the Smithsonian keeps an eye out for revenue opportunities — as long as they fit its philosophy of education with a populist touch.
The Natural History Museum in March added the MEanderthal section to its Human Origins exhibit where visitors go to a "morphing station" to have a photo taken of their head.
The image is morphed backward in time about 100,000 years, "blending their image with certain early humanoid species," said Richard Lewis, a principal with Chedd-Angier-Lewis, a design firm that worked with the Smithsonian on MEanderthal.
An image of the visitor as a Neanderthal is displayed on monitor for relatives, classmates and the world to see. However the Smithsonian doesn't allow printing.
"Museums are reluctant to (offer) that because it creates a tide of thrown away paper," said Lewis.
Second, printing a high-resolution image can take time, and that leads to lines, a concern at Natural History with its several million visitors a year.
Instead, the museum offers an application for Android and iPhone mobile phones where someone can upload an image of their face which the museum will return as the morphed version. There have been 175,000 downloads of the free app, according to a museum exhibit developer.
Such new technology may shut out the photo kiosks at some sites. But one museum is taking an 'if-you-can't-beat-‘em-join-‘em' approach to new electronics.
The Madame Tussauds wax-figure museum in New York City offers a DVD kiosk marketed as ‘Dance Heads' that takes a snap of the visitor's head and superimposes it on a dancing mini-body.
The patron chooses his favorite song and a 30-second clip of the visitor's oversized head atop the body of a professional dancer shaking it to, say, ‘YMCA,' is reproduced on the DVD, says Darren Grasberger, guest experience manager at the Tussauds in Times Square.
The DVD costs $10 and "everyone loves it," says Grasberger, who notes that patrons use the image on their social media sites or as clip art.
DH Recordings' Dance Heads kiosk can seat two and is portable, so Tussauds moves the device around to grab the interest of its 1 million annual visitors, says Grasberger.
A dancing DVD kiosk may be a little much for the gallery with a collection that leans towards figurines from ancient Mesopotamia.
Still, there are kiosk opportunities at museums for those firms willing to do their homework to find the right one.
Photo by Mr. T in DC.
