I led a team of design students in creating a badass Mars exhibit.
It was senior year at RIT. Every graduating class got to make a group project to exhibit at the annual ImagineRIT festival. Our thesis advisor told us to make an exhibit that our whole group would be passionate about. So we decided to make an interactive Mars exhibit to teach and inspire the next generation of students.
Client
Thesis advisors
Duration
January - May 2018
Services
Sketches, Prototypes, 3D Printing, Projection Mapping
My Role
Team Manager and Lead Designer
Website
The challenge
Putting together an exhibit is way different than what our classes prepared us for.
Instead of wireframes and animations, we had to create an inviting, interactive space for all ages.
I started with what I knew best: bringing people together.
I pitched an idea to my team: passion is contagious, so let's vote on a subject we love, then build around it. Space exploration got the most votes. There's a lot to unpack there, so we started workshopping the idea down to a set of tasks. Visitors would want to learn, play, and move through a pretty space. How might we turn those activities into a coherent exhibit?
Two exhibit posters that I created in Adobe Suite.
The mission
Our team aligned around the idea of completing a (totally real) mission for NASA.
The visitor would be like a human version of the Curiosity Rover. Look around, explore the landscape, and scan for data.
Becky created motion graphics that simulated a scanner. It displayed geologic information as well as realistic weather data.
An example of the motion graphics that Becky created.
Different views of the motion graphics that displayed through project mapping.
The homework
This wasn't any ordinary mission. Visitors would get to take home a piece of the exhibit.
We created take-home holograms that you can place on your smartphone. Once you tee up a video from our Vimeo page, you fold and place the hologram pyrimad onto your screen.
DIY Holograms with instructions.
A large hologram on a flat TV screen.
The process
But things were tough behind the scenes.
We were poor students who were getting stressed as the deadline got closer and closer.
I hate to say it but I was a micro-manager at this time. I took on too much of the work because I felt like the othere didn't have the time and energy.
My team sat me down for a heart-to-heart meeting. We agreed the only way we could succeed was if I started delegating some tasks.
Dale volunteered as brand designer while Bre and Sara would handle the educational components. I wrapped up some 3D animations for the holograms, and got to work on managing the team.
We created a shoestring budget and approximate schedule. I created tickets in Trello and managed our shared Google Drive repository. Our team felt reinvigorated.
Demoing the projection mapping started with a bunch of stacked tables (lol) until we upgraded to projection screens.
Nearing the end
Once I worked on my management skills, our team started working together better than ever.
We created all the designs, merch, and presentations before the exhibit.
Free stickers, a Snapchat filter, and a shared Spotify playlist.
Our impact
Over 1,000 visitors. We gave away 800 stickers, 500 postcards, and 650 DIY Holograms. It was one of the most fun days of my career.
A special thanks goes to the entire New Media Design BFA faculty, most notably the former department head Adam Smith.
Team Manager
Chris Locke
Motion Graphics Designer
Becky Yaeger
Brand Designer
Dale Payne
Developers
Doug Andrews & Jasmine Ruan
Industrial Designers
Stacey Yip & Emily Tichonuk
Educational Designers
Sara Nuffer & Bre Marshall
Our full overview video.