The development of this proposal involved 3 stages, in which step by step I delineated the objectives and final form of the project.

The original idea for the project was to develop a single kiosk that could potentially be part of the permanent exhibition of the American Museum of the Moving Image, whose subject matter would be the transition from analog to digital media. However, as soon as I started my research, I became more attracted to the idea of the evolution of craft that is taking place along with the transition to digital media. Therefore, I decided to further research the idea of craft in film production.

Stage II

Once I confirmed that the subject was offered a great potential, I decided to propose a full exhibition that would be integrated by several interactive modules instead of one. At the mid term presentation of the thesis seminar I delineated the project as a “design for an interactive exhibition”. However, thanks to the feedback I received, I realized that designing an exhibition was more of a second stage for this project. Thus I changed my strategy and started working on building a solid thematic structure and I also decided to focus more on the interaction design, as a way to put to the test the most important skill that I have acquired in ITP.

Research started opening new possibilities

Subject matter was very attractive, not suitable for a single kiosk – idea of a set of kiosks, in other words a full exhibition came up

I defined sections for the exhibition and started conceptualizing the interactive experiences

I fine-tuned the content, flow of topics, and coherence with the interactive experiences

Stage III

Once the strategy was adjusted, I worked hard fine-tuning the content and the flow of each topic, at the same time trying to keep the coherence with the interactive experiences I was also designing.

Important decisions that I made early on this stage were:

I decided that it was essential to present a working demo to concept proof the interactive design aspect. I chose develop in full a prototype for the Pre-visualization tool.

I realized it would be key to produce a professional looking presentation, in order to have the proposal have the impact I desired.

And finally, I decided to go more in depth in defining interactive design criteria and designing an experience scenario.

Among these decisions, the one that represented more risks was the development of the Pre-visualization tool, mainly because it would involve working in a 3D modeling environment, which is usually very time consuming, and the decision was made somehow late in the process. Also even though this would be a prototype, it would still require a great deal of programming. Nevertheless I kept going on this path, which in short involved:

            Designing the interface

            Finding the right 3D character and preparing it for shockwave 3D

            Modeling the environment

            Programming the application

At this point, the presentation and the demo have been successfully produced, and the next step is to obtain feedback to improve them.