CITY DESIRED
CITY DESIRED
CITY DESIRED
CITY DESIRED
CITY DESIRED
Multi-faceted travelling exhibition with print and digital elements.
Multi-faceted travelling exhibition with print and digital elements.
Multi-faceted travelling exhibition with print and digital elements
Multi-faceted travelling exhibition with print and digital elements
Client
Africa Centre for Cities (University of Cape Town)
Roles
Interaction designer, client service
Type
Touchscreen, multi-touch table
BACKGROUND AND BRIEF:
City Desired was a multi-faceted exhibition presented through the eyes of 10 protagonists covering different aspects of life in Cape Town. Key themes such as education, shelter, food systems and transport were explored through mini-documentaries, interactive infographics and photo galleries.
The exhibition would have 10 modules based on the 10 aspects or themes. Each module had lightboxes, printed material and touchscreens built into MDF units.
There would also be a large rear-projected multi-touch table. The touch table needed to bring many themes and datasets together in a limited screen space. The table also needed to accommodate 10 users simultaneously.
BACKGROUND AND BRIEF:
City Desired was a multi-faceted exhibition presented through the eyes of 10 protagonists covering different aspects of life in Cape Town. Key themes such as education, shelter, food systems and transport were explored through mini-documentaries, interactive infographics and photo galleries.
The exhibition would have 10 modules based on the 10 aspects or themes. Each module had lightboxes, printed material and touchscreens built into MDF units.
There would also be a large rear-projected multi-touch table. The touch table needed to bring many themes and datasets together in a limited screen space. The table also needed to accommodate 10 users simultaneously.
BACKGROUND AND BRIEF:
City Desired was a multi-faceted exhibition presented through the eyes of 10 protagonists covering different aspects of life in Cape Town. Key themes such as education, shelter, food systems and transport were explored through mini-documentaries, interactive infographics and photo galleries.
The exhibition would have 10 modules based on the 10 aspects or themes. Each module had lightboxes, printed material and touchscreens built into MDF units.
There would also be a large rear-projected multi-touch table. The touch table needed to bring many themes and datasets together in a limited screen space. The table also needed to accommodate 10 users simultaneously.
BACKGROUND AND BRIEF:
City Desired was a multi-faceted exhibition presented through the eyes of 10 protagonists covering different aspects of life in Cape Town. Key themes such as education, shelter, food systems and transport were explored through mini-documentaries, interactive infographics and photo galleries.
The exhibition would have 10 modules based on the 10 aspects or themes. Each module had lightboxes, printed material and touchscreens built into MDF units.
There would also be a large rear-projected multi-touch table. The touch table needed to bring many themes and datasets together in a limited screen space. The table also needed to accommodate 10 users simultaneously.
APPROACH:
This was one of the few projects I have worked on that already had a well established content plan and actual content as well as a strong visual identity to work with.
My task was to adapt the print and visual design to a digital format, using it as a basis on which to develop the user interface that visitors would interact with to explore the content. I kept it simple, clean and bold.
APPROACH:
This was one of the few projects I have worked on that already had a well established content plan and actual content as well as a strong visual identity to work with.
My task was to adapt the print and visual design to a digital format, using it as a basis on which to develop the user interface that visitors would interact with to explore the content. I kept it simple, clean and bold.
APPROACH:
This was one of the few projects I have worked on that already had a well established content plan and actual content as well as a strong visual identity to work with.
My task was to adapt the print and visual design to a digital format, using it as a basis on which to develop the user interface that visitors would interact with to explore the content. I kept it simple, clean and bold.
APPROACH:
This was one of the few projects I have worked on that already had a well established content plan and actual content as well as a strong visual identity to work with.
My task was to adapt the print and visual design to a digital format, using it as a basis on which to develop the user interface that visitors would interact with to explore the content. I kept it simple, clean and bold.
APPROACH:
This was one of the few projects I have worked on that already had a well established content plan and actual content as well as a strong visual identity to work with.
My task was to adapt the print and visual design to a digital format, using it as a basis on which to develop the user interface that visitors would interact with to explore the content. I kept it simple, clean and bold.
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE OPENING NIGHT
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE OPENING NIGHT
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM OPENING NIGHT
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM OPENING NIGHT
CHALLENGES:
The amount of content that was required to go onto the multi-touch table presented quite a challenge. We wanted the maximum number of people to access the table simultaneously.
I solved this by creating theme “areas” which meant that users needed to move around the table in order to discover new information rather than opting for a complex interface to access all the information in one spot. People engaged with the sections and moved around which also helped with less congestion around the table.
CHALLENGES:
The biggest hurdle we faced at the start of the project, was that there was no content nor content strategy. The first 6 months were spent simultaneously designing the look and feel of the software, as well as developing and producing content for the touch screens. During this time, I worked closely with a specially selected team of writers and researchers to strategise and formulate templates for the various sections in the software, while the main writer supplied numerous topics and ideas for articles. Curators can add to the information on the touch screens via the CMS that was developed.
CHALLENGES:
The biggest hurdle we faced at the start of the project, was that there was no content nor content strategy. The first 6 months were spent simultaneously designing the look and feel of the software, as well as developing and producing content for the touch screens. During this time, I worked closely with a specially selected team of writers and researchers to strategise and formulate templates for the various sections in the software, while the main writer supplied numerous topics and ideas for articles.
RESULT:
City Desired exhibited at City Hall in Cape Town for several months and based on its popularity went on to be exhibited at the Watershed the V&A Waterfront over the festive season, which meant high foot traffic and engagement.
The content is now being repurposed for an online presence.
RESULT:
City Desired exhibited at City Hall in Cape Town for several months and based on its popularity went on to be exhibited at the Watershed the V&A Waterfront over the festive season, which meant high foot traffic and engagement.
RESULT:
The curators are able to contribute and add to the growing archive of information on the kiosks via the CMS that we developed. The client was very satisfied that we captured the ambience of the museum in the design of the software.
SCREENSAVER DESIGNS
MENU SCREENS
PHOTO STORIES
INTERACTIVE MAPS
VIDEO PLAYER
MULTI-TOUCH TABLE INTERFACE
DESIGN PLANNING PROCESS
PLANNING THE JOURNEYS
The touchscreens had the same structure for each theme.
The themes were differentiated by the use of colour.
When I began to design the visual identity of the exhibition, my starting point was to draw inspiration from the rocks. Their physical makeup is faceted which offered a certain pleasing design aesthetic plus there is a multitude of colourful stones embedded within them.
The content was very text-heavy so I knew I needed to design a neat grid structure for the various templates. The templates needed to be scalable and to work across all the banner wall sizes. The treatment for the banner wall titles was also important as they needed to indicate the section and rock type and act as visual markers. Defining templates upfront helped to define a word count for each of the banners, which then helped the content editor shorten the text to fit the templates.
When I began to design the visual identity of the exhibition, my starting point was to draw inspiration from the rocks. Their physical makeup is faceted which offered a certain pleasing design aesthetic plus there is a multitude of colourful stones embedded within them.
The content was very text-heavy so I knew I needed to design a neat grid structure for the various templates. The templates needed to be scalable and to work across all the banner wall sizes. The treatment for the banner wall titles was also important as they needed to indicate the section and rock type and act as visual markers. Defining templates upfront helped to define a word count for each of the banners, which then helped the content editor shorten the text to fit the templates.
THE MULTI-TOUCH TABLE
Solving the user journey and interface for the large multi-touch table was tricky. Although the physical proportions of the table were large, the table had to serve quite a lot of different information and the screen had to be split up to the sections leaving each “station” where users could access the information quite small. This was a challenge because of the low pixel density of the rear-projector, meaning the text was not particularly legible if it was too small and the size of the hot spots needed to be large enough to be triggered by the IR cameras tracking interaction.
When I began to design the visual identity of the exhibition, my starting point was to draw inspiration from the rocks. Their physical makeup is faceted which offered a certain pleasing design aesthetic plus there is a multitude of colourful stones embedded within them.
The content was very text-heavy so I knew I needed to design a neat grid structure for the various templates. The templates needed to be scalable and to work across all the banner wall sizes. The treatment for the banner wall titles was also important as they needed to indicate the section and rock type and act as visual markers. Defining templates upfront helped to define a word count for each of the banners, which then helped the content editor shorten the text to fit the templates.
When I began to design the visual identity of the exhibition, my starting point was to draw inspiration from the rocks. Their physical makeup is faceted which offered a certain pleasing design aesthetic plus there is a multitude of colourful stones embedded within them.
The content was very text-heavy so I knew I needed to design a neat grid structure for the various templates. The templates needed to be scalable and to work across all the banner wall sizes. The treatment for the banner wall titles was also important as they needed to indicate the section and rock type and act as visual markers. Defining templates upfront helped to define a word count for each of the banners, which then helped the content editor shorten the text to fit the templates.
