This research paper advocates that there is no apparent common language among museum exhibit literature that will facilitate those wishing to develop a display. The development process of a display is the same, regardless of the items on display. To address this problem of a common terminology, the recommendations need to be developed for a model to give structure to understanding of an idea and allow individual to deal with the relationships of concepts in visual terms. The first section of this paper briefly discusses four existing models: (1) Koran Jr., Longino and Shafer; (2) Miles, Alt, Gosling, Lewis, and Tout; (3) Velarde; and (4) Hall. The second section of the paper offers a model that focuses on the exhibit's communication process. This model is based on a holistic approach to the exhibit development process and recognizes the activities of all participants in the process, rather than a select group. The model also employs contributions from psychology, education, and communication in addressing the issues of message transmission. The terminology used in the model is drawn from the literature and is frequently the most common denominator that describes a concept. (EH)