Exhibits & Experience Design

Recent Projects

Experience Gallery, Harley Davidson Museum (Luci Creative)

Awaken Into Experience Gallery, The Fetzer Institute (Luci Creative)

Luci Creative Rebrand + Website

Reservoir Center for Water Solutions (Luci Creative)

Gallery Concepts, Milwaukee Public Museum (Luci Creative)

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The Dream Cube, Shanghai World Expo (ESI Design)

Action Center to End World Hunger, Mercy Corps (ESI Design)

Lobby Concept, Virginia Science Museum (ESI Design)

Tryon Palace Historic Sites and Gardens (ESI Design)

Case Studies

Designing Physical-Digital Active Play

Most of my neighbors have young children, which makes our street in Evanston a kid-friendly play zone in warmer months. But for many, finding opportunities to play with others is difficult—a problem that grew worse during the 2020 global pandemic. Even teens and college students stand to benefit from active play, especially in problem-solving disciplines like engineering.

Many of my clients—from toy companies to children’s museums—have asked how to leverage technology to create new kinds of active play experiences that keep their customers engaged.

The Brief

Demonstrate new opportunities in digitally augmented physical play.
Prototype low-cost game concepts for clients.
Research and provide data-driven insights about how people engage in active play.
Identify tech-enabled enhancements that make players want to do more.
Conduct real-world play tests with prototypes with key audiences at schools and community spaces.

The Results

At ESI, I conducted community-engaged research for products and programs in both public and private sectors.
We prototyped mixed-reality play experiences in multiple spaces and contexts.
Our work led to a spinoff startup that created new products, including a multi-player video game theatre for theme parks, sports arenas, and retail centers.

My Role

Building strategic partnerships.
Leading design strategy and process.
Conducting design research across diverse communities.
Creating prototypes and conducting user tests.
Managing team processes and resource planning.
Writing design documents, scripts, and presentations.
Art direction and storyboarding.

Above: An exhibit prototype test video that my team created for a children’s museum in a planned mixed-use development in the Fort Totten neighborhood of Washington, DC.

Above: A series of concept diagrams that we created for major toy manufacturers to pitch ideas for technology-augmented play toys and experiences.

Above: A video that I created with ESI designers and undergraduate students at Bucknell University to prototype spaces and media for active gaming experiences.

Digital Experiences for Casual Dining

As a kid growing up in Houston, Texas, I was no stranger to the family-friendly casual dining chain restaurant. “Foodie” wasn't even a concept at that time, so when my parents took us out for a special occasion, we found ourselves at TGI Friday's in Willowbrook Mall.

Looking back, we never went to these restaurants specifically for the food (though I did love Friday’s potato skins). The food was fine, but it was really about the time spent with family and friends.

I still enjoy dining out, but like many others, I have higher expectations when it comes to food and a restaurant experience. While the restaurant industry in general faces many challenges, casual chain dining has a unique set of problems for keeping customers. How do these brands make the "chain" feel a little less corporate and a lot more personal, social, and local—without sacrificing convenience and affordability?

The Brief

Produce attention-getting design concepts for new casual dining clients.
Observe and define behavioral mindsets for casual dining customers, linking them to customer aspirations.
Identify moments for enhancement in the casual dining experience—especially to facilitate meaningful interactions.
Address operational challenges to align the fine-tuned restaurant operation with experiential enhancements.

The Results

At ESI, I helped build a service design team to study casual restaurant brands and their customers.
We conducted contextual research, interviews, and ethnography to generate specific insights for design.
Our research created four opportunities for innovation based on customer mindsets:
- “celebration-making,”
- “value-seeking,”
- “daily gathering,” and
- “family focusing.”
We produced several low-cost rapid prototypes for each category.
We built relationships with category leading clients in casual dining that generated projects for in-store media architecture and digital brand platforms.

My Role

Identifying and qualifying client leads.
Delivering pitches and presentations to c-suite teams.
Leading service design research projects for three major casual dining brands.
Planning and producing prototypes.
Writing design briefs, research reports, and presentations.
Art direction, storyboarding, and diagram design.

Above: A rapid prototype video that we created during the business development process to help new clients imagine possibilities for in-store experiences with architectural media and mobile applications.

Above: A diagram that I designed to communicate insights generated from our field research and interviews with casual dining customers.

Designing a World Expo Pavilion with the
City of Shanghai

When ESI Design was selected to produce a 40,000 square-foot pavilion to represent the City of Shanghai at the 2010 World Expo, we knew that we wanted to engage Shanghai residents in a direct and participatory way.

In addition to designing the Dream Cube—a building and exhibit that sensed and responded to the visitors—ESI composed a story about the future of Shanghai.

I helped translate the pavilion’s story and theme into an outreach project that would invite Shanghai’s 24 million residents to become “co-designers” of the story.

Above: The Dream Cube’s “sizzle” video created with our production partners at Spinifex Group.

Above: The promotional video created to describe ESI’s core idea to design the Dream Cube with the city of Shanghai.

The Brief

Engage the people of Shanghai in a creative experience that would yield user-generated content for the exhibition.
Use the community outreach to heighten awareness of the project in a competitive media landscape.
Drive traffic to the Dream Cube’s website to connect audiences with the pavilion’s pre-visit content.

The Results

ESI created and managed a web-based community photo contest for residents of the city. Winning photos were selected and incorporated into the exhibition.
More than 80,000 photos were submitted.
The Dream Cube featured groundbreaking digital media surfaces fed by a stream of winning images.
Our efforts garnered worldwide media attention, including coverage from The New York Times and Fast Company.
The Dream Cube won several juried design awards.

My Role

Leading outreach, communications, and media relations.
Design and production of press materials, media kits, and presentations.
Coordinating content for the website and social media.

Work Samples

Creative Content Design

Below are design documents I helped design and produce for various projects:

Museum Visitor Experience Concepts: Science Museum of Virginia
Retail Visitor Experience Concepts: Discovery Channel
Theatre Print Materials: The Resurrectory
Theatre Press Kits: The Seven Deadly Sins

Above: A case study video for PNC Bank’s Fairfax Connection Community Center.

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Leading Design Teams in Creative Processes

I extensive experience planning and leading creative teams through different design processes, facilitating both internal teams, client teams, and large groups of stakeholders.