Bringing Stories To Life

Designing, managing and delivering complex immersive experiences is challenging. Experience-design relies on rapidly evolving technologies, which promise to only increase the challenges.

This is not a new problem. We have always had to balance  new tools, adapt to existing solutions, and help bring different types of stories to life.

This may seem daunting. Cultural institutions, for example, need the confidence of long-term stability, and operational simplicity. They are often wary (perhaps rightfully) of cutting-edge technologies. Many institutions do not have the dependable in-house expertise to take ownership of innovative technologies and systems.

This is where Experience Design experts come in. They bring production experience with the nuances of integrating different systems to maximize visitor engagement, while minimizing operational challenges.

It’s worth talking about some key tech innovations over the last 10 years that were critically helpful when building compelling experiences.

In 2011 NoSQL was starting to gain traction (partially thanks to FourSquare’s use of MongoDB and their associated scaling problems). Watching MongoDB’s challenges at the time, one may have thought this particular category of database innovation was not the right solution for critical museum storytelling. 

However, a detailed and expert look at NoSQL database engines such as MongoDB and ElasticSearch made them perfect matches for the types of non-structured content that formed the basis of the exhibitions at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum (NS11MM).

Museum's are often not considered to be at the cutting edge of technology. However, this is unfortunately a misunderstanding. of the domain. Museums and cultural spaces need many innovative technology solutions in order to craft their narratives in the most compelling way for end-visitors.

NoSQL based data management is not particularly exciting. But this back-end innovation allowed us to serve data in very simple ways for touch-based interactives, adaptive media content, and even machine-learned projection systems.

Many deeply embedded (and generally invisible) solutions are necessary to deliver these innovative and unique experiences. In some cases the embedded systems may be related to data management, and in others it is the physical mode of of end-user interaction.

Users are most engaged with physical, responsive, tactile interfaces. This requires a deep understanding of hardware integration with software and systems.

Off-the-shelf solutions often limit the range of how stories can be told. A systems-based, engineering-assisted approach is needed to  build truly innovative experiences. The magic really happens when the hardware and software are build with the end user experience in mind. 

This is certainly not a new idea. Most product-based companies think this way (for example Apple). However, the challenge is in creating custom and unique experiences with the same “productized” quality.

At the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in NY, we had to create  an entirely novel, very large, high-resolution, touch-responsive table, with custom 3-D editing tools, and integrate it all into a highly reliable system. This took a new level of engineering, design, and project management expertise. 

Getting the engineering to work successfully is one level of satisfaction. But the real joy is is in seeing users spell-bound with the experience!

“Experiences” are now everywhere. We expect every screen to be interactive, and soon every surface and even every environment.

The terms “Smart building” and “Internet of Things” have been used for several years. The premise is that these "smart" systems can be reactive to human needs, such as environmental controls that are adaptive to the preferences of the occupant.

Sensors and intelligent cameras, are intended to increase the comfort of the occupants, and also to simplify management of the environment. Traditionally the engineering subsystems that these "smart" devices are connected to have been separated from the Experience Design subsystems.

Modern experiences can take advantage of te fact that the disparate systems from "smart" engineering-based sensors, to audiovisual systems, to end-user experiences are all connected to the same core network.

We can now make environments not just "smart" but also "human-centric".

When these systems are integrated with each other, we can create a new types of Spatial Experiences.

Environments themselves can now become “sensory” and “conversational”. The building can now “sense” visitors, and “converse” with them.

These “conversations” require new ways to communicate between systems, between the built environment and our personal devices where they are phones or glasses or other types of active devices.

We can now get useful, contextual information based on our current location and needs.

Imagine being in a museum where a staff member's voice is amplified only through the environmental speakers nearest to them. This is a way to to make the building "reactive" to our needs.

We can continue this exploration .. a visitor’s phone can trigger content in the space, and receive a location-relevant video stream. Scenographic elements in the built environment can now extend into the technologies that we carry with us.

The scenography now becomes an active part of the experience. Environmental elements can react to a specific visitor’s presence. For example playing media on the closest screen in their preferred language; or even initiating a conversation about an exhibit thanks to location tracking sensors.

Conceptualizing, designing, implementing and maintaining the next-generation of fully-interactive Spatial Experiences requires a unique and diverse combination of skills.

RamanInk’s network of experts bring the requisite experience and background to help deliver these kinds of experiences. 

See the Works page for a full list of executed projects and their current status.

Also, we are often invited as speakers, panel participants, and podcast guests. Check them out in the Talks section of the Works Page.