History Colorado Center wanted an exhibit to inspire young people in their state to make an impact. Through storytelling and multimedia experiences the resulting journey explores 101 inspirational stories from Colorado's "superheroes."
I led our design team and completed the physical visual design for the exhibits as well as collaborating on the 3D exhibit design. We partnered with a media production company for the digital components of the exhibit.
The biggest challenge of early design was the need to develop an organizing physical concept and also a lens through which to present the content. We knew the exhibit's core material would be inspiring stories of Coloradans who made a difference.
I knew the content needed to be united around a story. We landed on the idea of a hero's journey: start with a spark, move through challenges, and ultimately reach confidence, leadership, and the impulse to give back to make positive change.
With this as our central thesis, we built parts of the experience around different phases in the journey cycle. The client provided inspiring examples from history, and we designed direct questions and activities to nudge visitors to reflect about their own lives.
Throughout the exhibit, we envisioned ways for visitors to continue processing what they see and how it relates to their lives.
The exhibits show people who are making a different by acting on their values, and then ask visitors what matters to them.
I led our 2D and 3D design team, working closely with our digital media partner and the exhibit curator / writer to design the look and feel of the space and unite all the elements in the exhibit. Our digital media partner developed the interactive media pieces that we conceptualized as a team.
In the final area of the exhibit experience, posters line the walls and overhead, showing visitors examples of ways people have strived to make an impact over time.
From political movements, to grassroots initiatives, to social and environmental issues, we used artfully arranged posters to describe the ways to make a difference.
Initially we struggled to find a capstone experience for the exhibits. The content was by nature open-ended, yet needed to highlight something in the museum's collection and leave visitors with something to take away. We landed on an activity where visitors design their own poster and can see it displayed on a screen amongst the other posters in the collection.
The exhibit opened just before the pandemic in the fall of 2019.
The exhibit was recognized in fall of 2021 with an award from a national organization for excellence in history museums.
Moving forward, if I could re-engage with this project I would look at ways to create more changeable content that reflects where we are now as a society after the pandemic.
I will be adding to my site throughout 2021. Please check back often for updates.
