Interactive exhibit
Climate change & awareness
An exhibit consisting of 112 OLED screens, arranged in a tunnel. Up to 16 visitors take part in a 10-minute virtual trip that shows what the world could look like in 2100 if mankind does nothing to combat climate change. The experience includes a 5 minute game as a literal call to action against climate change.
The problem
Our vision was to create a compelling, interactive experience. As the core piece of the museum the exhibit aimed at setting the tone of the exhibition by showing the possible effects of climate change for our future.
My role
Game Design, Art Director, Character Designer, Storyboarder, Usability-Researcher. Through the lifespan of this 2-year project I got to switch into a range of design roles to deliver the product.
We’ve got commissioned to create the core piece for the “Klima Arena” in Sinsheim, Germany. Focus of this exhibit is to create awareness for climate change and to set the mood for the rest of the museum. To gain traction the client wanted a replayable experience for their customers so we created an interactive storyline with gaming elements to create a unique experience depending on the customer interactions.
My work began by supporting the early concepts with input and sketches which helped in winning the concept-pitch. After this I collaborated with a colleague to work on the game design as well as creating the storyboard. I was able to demonstrate my skills in character design and further guided the art direction of the exhibit. By supporting my colleagues during game testings we were able to define and later on solve several UX flaws.
A diverse team & subject matter experts
The team for this big venture was creative, passionate, and diverse from day one. I was one of ten designers to have supported the design concept, and in many different matters of the craft. One being game design for which we had the game designer Philipp Stollenmayer to consult us.
For the technical challenges we were lucky enough to find enough passionate developers in our pool of talents at sovanta AG.
To stay scientifically correct we even hired a scientists, with a master degree in geology, to validate the visual design of or dystopian prediction of the future.
Even the storytelling and dialogue was assisted through professional help: Falko Löffler helped us to elevate our writing.
Media awareness
Since the project was one of the biggest scale projects I worked on thus far, we were happy and not surprised to see the media picking up on the museum and its focus on generating awareness about the climate change.
In this german video article about the new museum you will be able to get a grasp of the project in action (it is shown at the beginning; 00:05 — 00:15).
Result
An exhibit consisting of 112 OLED screens, arranged in a tunnel. Up to 16 visitors take part in a 10-minute virtual trip that shows what the world could look like in 2100 if mankind does nothing to combat climate change. The experience includes a 5 minute game as a literal call to action against climate change.
Success factor
In consulting the client from start to finish, the team at sovanta was able to create a great experience. With a diverse team of subject matter experts we balanced both technical obstacles as well as UX challenges to eventually develop an daily played game-exhibit, two months prior to the launch.
Learning
Games are very different to business applications in that the threshold of engagement is much higher. Having visitors come into the exhibit and enjoy the interactive experience was only improved by applying research methods.