Guardians of Memory: Designers Respond to Censorship

August 27, 2025

Cybelle Jones

Recently, directives from the federal government to audit and potentially revise interpretive materials in museums and national parks have raised urgent questions for our field. For those of us in exhibition, experience, and interpretive design, this is not an abstract policy shift—it is a direct challenge to the integrity of our work and the role our profession plays in society.

At SEGD, we know interpretation is not decoration. It is public memory, embodied in place. As Leslie Wolke recently wrote in When Public Memory Is Under Threat, Designers Must Lead:

For decades, SEGD members have worked alongside curators, scholars, and communities to design experiences that help people understand history, culture, science, and the environment in ways that are clear, inclusive, and truthful. These are not just signs or exhibitions—they are the result of years of research, creative collaboration, and professional expertise.

The American Alliance of Museums put it plainly in their August 15th statement:

This chilling effect reaches beyond curators and historians. It reaches fabricators, designers, educators, and technologists—the people who interpret history through exhibitions, visitor centers, trailheads, and public landmarks. Our work gives form to complex stories and makes them accessible to millions of visitors each year. When those stories are silenced or rewritten, the impact falls not only on institutions but also on the professionals who have dedicated their lives to ensuring accuracy, inclusivity, and dignity in public storytelling—on behalf of every visitor who steps into a museum, sets foot on a trail, or pauses at a historic site.

SEGD members are already showing leadership in how to respond. Architect and SEGD Fellow Wendy Evans Joseph has collaborated with clients on her “Use Your Words” campaign, offering downloadable posters and pins [download zipped campaign assets here] highlighting the importance of language in resisting censorship and encouraging dialogue. Designer and writer Brad Shelton, in his recent essay The Smithsonian, Authoritarianism, and You (and Me), warns of the dangers of state control over cultural narratives while also reflecting on the broader cultural shifts that brought us to this moment. Both remind us that our role is not only to design but also to advocate, interpret, and protect the public trust.

Already, initiatives like Save Our Signs at the University of Minnesota have mobilized to document interpretive signage and exhibitions at risk of erasure.

As designers, we, too, must see ourselves as stewards in this moment.

That means documenting our projects, advocating for the independence of cultural institutions, and reminding the public why design matters: because it shapes what—and how—we remember.

James Madison wrote, “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance.”

Museums, parks and cultural sites are where that knowledge is made visible, tangible, and shared. Protecting their independence is not partisan—it is fundamental to our collective story, and to the practice of design itself.

Now is the time for designers to stand alongside our museum colleagues. We are not bystanders—we are stewards of public memory, creating spaces where facts, evidence, and multiple perspectives can be presented with integrity, so every visitor has the opportunity to engage, reflect, and learn.

Further Reading & Resources

AAM Statement on the Growing Threats of Censorship Against U.S. Museums

The Smithsonian, Authoritarianism, and You (and Me)

The New York Times – “Trump Orders Review of Historical Markers in National Parks”

Save Our Signs – Initiative to Document and Preserve Interpretive Signage