MONOLITE
An interactive monolithic wall; Monolight is an exhibit to engage multiple people using tangibility, light, and visual entertainment.
THE CLIENT
Cosentino
Cosentino Group is a global, Spanish and family-owned company that produces and distributes innovative high-value surfaces for the world of architecture and design. Cosentino wanted a physical installation to exhibit their ultra compact surface DEKTON at various design symposiums across Toronto.
THE CHALLENGE
To create an interactive installation that will be exhibited at the Architecture & Design Film Festival and Design TO. The exhibit was to be interactive, and showcase promotional video content for the Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF), Cosentino, and George Brown College. The interactions were meant to be physically initiated by the user to commence the content.
THE CONCEPT
After a series of design session and much iteration we came up with a monolithic structure, comprised of seven buttons surrounded by flashing and alluring LED lights, and an elongated LCD screen to display the content in a unique frame. The primary interaction of the installation was press two of the large buttons in various combination to display the various media content.
CHALLENGES
UX was a major challenge for this project; mainly in how we get the user to interact with our installation in the intended manor. We wanted Monolite to be easy to approach and simple to understand. We experimented with various methods of teach the user how to trigger the content, including flashing the LED lights in sequential patterns, or having written instructions on a plaque alongside the installation. We decided the best approach was a minimal visual instruction video that would run while the Monolight was inactive. After user testing however, we realized that the intended interaction was slightly too complicated to show with only visuals, so after a few iterations we had a instructional video visually showing the intended interaction, along side a brief description of how to initiate the video content. We found this was the simplest way to show the user the desired interaction.
MY ROLES
Like all my colleagues on the team, I had various roles on this project. It started with conceptualization of the Monolite, its look and feel, as well as its core functionality. Once the design phase was complete we split into four distinct production teams. I was a content creator for the promotional materials that were displayed on the installation; focusing primarily on making short but concise title sequences that introduced each piece of video content. This role required me to be in constant contact with the client Cosentino, as well as ADFF and George Brown College to procure all the necessary digital content to create, recreate, and enhance the required media for a professional quality production.
I was also a member of the production team assigned to assemble the various components of the installation, as well as on call physical and digital troubleshooting.
TITLE SCREENS
DESIGN PROCESS PHOTOS
CONCLUSION
I am very proud of the whole team and the final result of the Monolite installation. We had a deadline of two after receiving the client brief from Cosentino and the team worked tirelessly around the clock, putting in extra hours to ensure a quality and professional product that we are prod to display at design symposiums around the city of Toronto.
The hands on experience that I received as a content producer, strategizing with a the content team and working with various clients to ensure that I had all the materials necessary was invaluable.
I look forward to my next digital installation and am thankful for the opportunity that I had to work on such an amazing project with a group of immensely talented individuals.
Displays
DesignTO 2020
https://designto.org/event/monolite/
ADFF Toronto 2019
