N-YHS: Federal Wall, New York, NY, 2011

The Federal Wall engages visitors in the relationships between objects, events, ideas and people. The wall uses art, historic documentation, period ephemera, and the words and deeds of historic figures in conjunction with digital displays and augmented reality to tell the story of the Founding Period.

Five 46” touchscreens merge the physical environment of the display wall with computer-generated imagery, text and visual effects. Visitors explore this augmented reality by rotating the screens to view objects physically present in the environment and interact with their virtual representations, associated text and additional virtual objects stored in the collection. The layers of virtual information makes visible the connections of all present objects and expands interpretation.

Each augmented reality station consists of one 46” touchscreen mounted portrait style on a custom designed pillar which stands on the floor. The screens are 7’9” away from the wall to allow people to get up close to the objects. Each screen pivots horizontally and an attached rotation sensor monitors its orientation. Each screen can pivot 22.5° to the left and right (45° total), allowing access to neighboring gateways.

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N-YHS: Collections Highlight Showcase, New York, NY, 2011

The Collection Highlights Showcase features unique and interesting objects from the New-York Historical Society’s collection and guides people towards the larger collection and archive upstairs. Six columns with vertical screens offer a simple dynamic presentation of images that are grouped thematically. Each column displays either an independent image or sections of a single image which expands across all the screens. Visitors can watch or glance at the columns multiple times and from multiple areas in the exhibition.

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N-YHS: Interactive Columns, New York, NY, 2011

The Interactive Columns allows visitors to peruse six stories presented on touchscreen displays. Each touchscreen presents a different theme investigating New York’s exceptional role in American History. Mounted alongside the touchscreens are key objects that relate to the topics under discussion.

The visitor interacts by swiping their finger on the screen horizontally to choose between the different articles. Their finger movements appear to “drag” the articles from side to side, with a one-to-one correspondence. By swiping up and down an article can be dragged to reveal its entire length. Images and text within the articles can be enlarged with a double tap to view in greater detail and restored to their place in the article with an additional double tap. It is also possible to use a ‘pinch’ and ‘unpinch’ two finger gesture to reduce and enlarge the articles. After a few minutes of inactivity, the application transitions to an introductory image, waiting for the next visitor to swipe the articles into full view and begin exploring.

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N-YHS: Living Painting, New York, NY, 2011

The Living Painting is a unique experience that greets visitors immediately as they enter the reconfigured New-York Historical Society. It transports visitors back in time to the revolutionary moment that caught fire in New York and ultimately let to the founding of a new nation and the New-York Historical Society itself. The installation brings to life Johannes Adam Simon Oertel's painting "Pulling Down the Statue of King George III".

As visitors enter the building, they see what appears to be a large painting at the end of the entry hall. The “painting” actually consists of a five-by-two array of LCD panels. The image on each panel comes within 2.8mm of each edge, so the overall effect is of a single scene over 11 feet wide and nearly 8 feet high transected by a few very thin black lines. The painting depicts a mob of colonists at dusk with the soon to be destroyed statue at the focal point of the scene.

Using sound and animation, various elements of the painting come to life. Subtle animations within the painting are triggered by visitor proximity. Animations consist of drifting smoke, the pulling down of the horse statue, waving arms, and a running dog...just to name a few. Carefully composed audio elements contribute to the feeling that the painting has come to life. Although the resulting experience is still very much like looking at an oil painting, the sense of observing an actual event is enhanced.

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Boston Federal Reserve: NEEA Generator, Boston, MA, 2011

The Generator is a multi-user interactive installation where visitors explore social and economic narratives relating to Boston and New England. It provides a general overview of economic concepts through real world examples and genuine data. The installation is composed of high definition displays and touchscreens. Ten screens are installed in landscape orientation with eight screens installed above these in portrait orientation. Five of the landscape displays are touch screens, and these screens are the portals through with visitors interact with the Generator content.

The design is primarily built from moving text and image elements, with additional simple graphic elements, such as a grid. The information is designed in a three dimensional “virtual space,” however many elements are presented in a more two dimensional form. There are two stories each sub-divided in to chapters. Each of the five landscape touch screens display a chapter and, as visitors interact with the content in the chapters, the content is reproduced in a larger format above them on the portrait screens.

Visitors are able to peruse the content by selecting from a group of images. Once an image is selected it enlarges and provides the visitor with additional information. Some of the images are non-interactive, others include custom animations and many are custom made interactive charts created by Small Design from real data.

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Boston MFA: Dynamic Signage, Boston, MA, 2009

The MFA dynamic signage system consists of three distinct forms. All three signs draw on the same daily XML feed, populated by Sitebots. Each screen displays an overlapping but specific set of content, tailored to its form and location in the museum. The signs primarily serve to promote current and upcoming events and exhibitions at the MFA. It also welcomes visitors to the museum, advertises for memberships, and serves as a billboard for general announcements.

The installation located at the Sharf Information Center is comprised of seven LCD screens run by networked computers. This sign uses letterforms based on the MFA logo along with vivid colors and images to show all exhibitions and events available at the museum on the current day. At less frequent intervals, it shows highlights from the museum collection as well as a welcome screen with the MFA logo. The sign is designed to provide an exciting overview of "Today at the MFA" and spark visitors' interest in the museum's offerings. While it does not replace the printed brochure or calendar, it provides enough detailed information for a visitor to find and participate in selected exhibitions and events.

The Huntington reception desk sign is similar in form to the Sharf sign, with some additional information and restrictions. The sign is five screens wide and displays the list of current exhibitions, showing only those above a certain priority. Every forty five seconds, an exhibition is highlighted in the foreground, with a probability based on its priority level. Flanking this list—and shown at all times—are the current time, the day's operation hours, general admission prices, ticketed exhibition prices, and the name of the current ticketed exhibition. Displayed at the bottom of each screen is a staff label, whose contents can be set with the keyboard connected to the sign, which indicates the current function of the associated desk position. 

A single portrait screen is positioned at both the Fenway and Huntington entrances of the museum. These screens run identical software and serve to welcome visitors to the museum and pique their interest about current exhibitions. The pylons alternates between a welcome screen, which also shows the museum's hours of operation for the day, and a selected exhibition. Only exhibitions of a high priority level are shown on these signs.

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Cardiovascular Center: Donor Recognition, Ann Arbor, MI, 2009

The Donor Recognition System for the Cardiovascular Center at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, is an animated presentation of hospital donors, and serves as a recognition of those who have helped to make the Michigan Difference.

The system is comprised of two computers running custom software with four large LCD displays that present the animated program to staff and visitors of the Hospital. An iPod Touch serves as a remote control for the system.

The animations present each donor name, appearing as a circle of text, which bursts like a bubble, spinning the letters away. As the letters drift about, new donor names appear briefly before they, too, burst. Over time, the letters come together into a formal layout of the donor's name, which then drifts down the displays and fades away.

Occasionally, a donor name appears in another form. Shafts of light play down the displays and, from the bottom of one display, a donor name emerges and "swims" away to explore the Donor Wall displays. After a bit, the words regroup and formally present the donor's name. The words stay in formation for several moments, before a cluster of donor names burst apart, and the startled words swim quickly off the top of the displays. These names are larger than the other donor names, and they represent donors who have given a greater contribution, or who have otherwise been selected for special treatment.

The presentation proceeds at a stately pace, presenting names throughout the day and night. After all of the donors have been presented, a new cycle begins to present each name once again. Although all the names are presented each cycle, each presentation is unique in its own little way.

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Irish College Exhibits: Louvain Institute, Leuven, Belgium, 2009

The Irish Colleges scattered around mainland Europe were set up to educate Catholics from Ireland in their own religion following the takeover of the country by the Protestant English state in the Tudor re-conquest of Ireland.

In the last decade, the Irish Government has financed the renovation of the premises of the Irish College in Leuven which now serves as an Irish Cultural Centre and a residence for Irish students, writers and artists. SDF was commissioned to place several informative touch screen installations and artworks around the newly renovated center to teach visitors about Irish history and its diaspora culture.

An interactive map orients new visitors to the Irish College buildings, historical objects, and new exhibits in the lobby. Overhead is a large robotic chandelier comprised of 26 gold leaf letters that rotate throughout the day. At any one time, the letters will form a legible word as seen from either the entrance or main hall of the College. The two words Ireland and Europe, in the three languages of English, Gaelic, and Dutch, and seen from two possible angles create twelve possible configurations of the sculpture.

In a cloistered seating area of the College there is an interactive book that contains excerpts from several rare Manuscripts. These were ancient books scribed and copied by Fransciscan monks that inhabited the College centuries ago. Near the old entrance is a large touchscreen that describes the Irish College's foundation and features King Philip of Spain's letter granting permission for the college to be established.

Near the entrance to the Chapel is a four screen interactive that provides insight into the intertwined histories of Ireland and Europe at the time of the Irish College's foundation and in the centuries that followed. It particularly focuses on the men and women who migrated from Ireland to Continental Europe.

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Metropolitan Museum: Period Rooms, New York, NY, 2009

Small Design Firm was initially engaged to create a master plan for technology use in the American Wing. This led to the development of a number of project concepts: Period Room interactives, Elevator display, and the re-design of all printed signs and labels in the new wing.

The Period Rooms tour in the American Wing offers visitors to the Met a way to view decorative arts in their original context. These rooms are meticulously researched and reconstructed, but limitations in space did not allow for traditional printed signage . In response to the curatorial need for explanatory signage, Small Design Firm developed a railing-mounted touchscreen interactive to display a wealth of information about the rooms and the objects within them.

The screens present visitors with the provenance of the room, a brief history of the people who lived in it, curatorial information on the furnishings and objects in the room, and an explanation of how the room was moved from its original location and reconstructed within the museum. The interface is simple and can be used by visitors of all ages. Content is arranged as a horizontal scroll; sliding a finger across the screen slides this content forward and back. In addition, a three dimensional silhouette of each object in the room can be touched to bring up its object label. Users can zoom in on specific images, play videos, and flip certain cards to show more detailed content.

In the New York Times' review of the renovated American Wing, they made special mention of these interactives:

"Also new, and well worth a try, are some of the best digital displays I’ve seen in any museum. With a brush of the finger on a touch screen you get information about the room’s original location, about the people who lived in it and about the history of its display at the Met, along with data about individual objects on view."

From ‘Made in U.S.A.’ Shines After Makeover by Holland Cotter published May 22, 2009.

We are currently at about the halfway mark and will install further signs and interactive displays as the painting galleries are renovated and reopen in about two years.

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Metropolitan Museum: Elevator Display, New York, NY, 2009

Small Design Firm was initially engaged to create a master plan for technology in the American Wing. This led to the development of a number of project concepts: Period Room interactives, Elevator display, and the re-design of all printed signs and labels in the new wing.

A central element of the renovation of the American Wing is a striking glass elevator. Four unique visitor experiences are organized around this elevator. They include the Period Rooms tour, the Paintings and Sculpture Galleries, the Courtyard Balconies, and Visible Storage. Small Design Firm developed a series of digital and physical signs in and around this glass elevator to explain these unique experiences and offer visitors a clear way of moving through the space.

Hallway screens outside the elevator use graphic animations, along with images and text, to present visitors with an overview of the wing and how they might move through it. A separate screen gives a more detailed description of the Period Rooms and supporting galleries. Inside the elevator cab, a three dimensional model of the wing moves synchronously with the elevator, giving the visitor an X-ray view into each floor.

A master three-dimensional map was designed to be used on both the physical and digital signage. Axonometric and plan versions of the map are used on physical maps to describe each floor and experiential section. The same axonometric map is used on the digital signs flanking the elevator to describe possible paths through each experience. A persistent table of contents is always visible on the left hand cab screen to aid visitors as they choose which floor to begin on.

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