To explore the intersection of how people experience design in physical space, I attended a special topics course in exhibition design. The professor was a guest instructor who designed for the Met in New York.    

I was charged with creating an exhibit based on a scientific object I found interesting. This exhibit would then be fully manufactured and featured in an art museum hallway. 

The first step to this project was fully understanding my topic, which was historical utilization of the sun for navigation and telling time. It was then I came up with the form of the “compass/clock.” This idea would be an interactive experience in which a person could stand on a small platform and read their own shadow to learn the time and get a sense of direction. Once I had a full idea of the information I wanted to share, I began mood boarding and testing colors.

On top of the visual and inspirational research I also began thinking about ADA accessibility guidelines. This topic covers everything from how large one’s physical text should be, to the height of panels, to the understanding of importance for high contrast communication design.

In the final product, I chose to stick with a very black and white theme, to upload the most contrast and make my panels easier to read against the concrete. The content I curated invites the viewer to concisely learn about the history of sun navigation and then quickly directs them to an experience that illustrates the subject in practice. Though we dealt with an interesting wind tunnel obstacle in space, it was a huge success.