An 11 person creative agency in Brookland, D.C. is designing multi-million dollar museum exhibits for the Smithsonian. 

Howard + Revis Design is a collaborative of architects, 3D thinkers, graphic designers, researchers, writers and project managers whose goal is to rethink storytelling in museum spaces, said co-owner Jeff Howard.

Howard and Tracy Revis started the agency 34 years ago following a career in architecture. 

Howard said he prefers designing grand exhibits over the work he did for “billionaires who wanted a new D.C. home.” 

“In a simple sense, we do all of the packaging of the space, the colors, the lighting, the media presence, the circulation flow,” Howard said.

According to their site, Howard + Revis’ work ranges from indoor and outdoor exhibits, along with monuments and memorials.

Their work can be seen throughout the National Mall. They have clients ranging from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to the National Museum of the American Indian. 

Their core team consists of 11 people that facilitate the design aspect of each project. 

Then, they work with the people who will physically put the exhibits together, along with the people who will serve as the voices of the exhibit. 

Howard explained that the predominantly white creative agency makes it a point not to interfere with verbiage utilized in exhibit work and instead allow members of the communities that the exhibit is intended for to guide the language.

“We focus on how the exhibit plays out in the space,” Howard said. “What are we doing to make the exhibit more immersive, engaging, participatory or interactive?”

So the Smithsonian, Howard said, will come up with a storyline and it is up to Howard and his team to decide how their designs will tackle that issue in a fresh way. 

In their most recent exhibit in the Smithsonian American Museum entitled, “Girlhood, It’s Complicated”, Howard said his team looked to rethink ways to represent historical artifacts that previously didn’t include girl’s perspectives. 

The colorful exhibit included illustrations, girl-made zines, hand-written notes from curators, and engaging infographics, meant to amplify the diverse stories of girlhood in America.

Howard said that one of the items they chose to include was a century-old loom that was previously noted as an artifact from a 20th century factory. 

Howard said that he, and the women-led curators that Howard + Revis worked with, found that the workers for the loom were young girls who lost their hands trying to switch these yard spindle’s out. 

“So, here’s something that was collected by the Smithsonian for a totally different reason, than the way it is being interpreted by women curators,” Howard said. 

One of the other designers working on the project was Avery Parker, a senior graphics and exhibits developer. 

She said she enjoyed working with these projects because her background with an advertising design agency didn't offer the same type of creative freedom.

“That project was really cool because it didn’t have your typical museum documents,” she said. “Getting to see the process of seeing [curators] working on that and then being able to work on the [graphic] files for it and make it come to life was really nice.”

Parker and Howard both acknowledged that their work dealt with heavy subjects, but said they enjoy thinking about the ways to communicate complex moments in a way that is digestible to museum-goers.

“[We consider] the different ways to engage with people… some people want to touch, some people want to read, some people want to be immersed into a scene,” said Howard.

At 69 Howard doesn’t know how much longer he will be able to do this work, but said he believes it necessary in hopes of a brighter future. 

“There should be more businesses that engage in a better world and that’s what we try to do.” he said