Engaged and improved the experience of thousands of annual guests who visit Carnegie Mellon University, contributing to a 60% boost in perceived cultural understanding, and rich visitor reflections on student work, creativity, and campus traditions.
Project Length: 15 weeks (Summer 2024)
Team
Felix Cooper, Hannah Lesser, Daphne Peters(Advisor), Haeyoung Kim(Advisor)
Role
Spatial Design, Content Strategy, Interaction Design, Fabrication, Physical Prototyping, UI
Tools
Rhino, Raspberry Pi, Aftereffects, Illustrator, Photoshop
Project Data
Researched content strategies and iterated upon layouts and spatial narratives
Rendered 3D visualizations for conceptual and pre-installation client presentations
Curated and collected 15+ pieces of student work for a display highlighting maker space
Ideated and fabricated an interactive kiosk for "The Fence": a unique student tradition

Installation Theme
Our touch points focus on showing various aspects of what it's actually like to be a CMU student. Each include an interactive element that promotes active learning and engagement.

JOIN US!
Visitors discover life outside academics by spinning triangles to see the variety and number of student clubs and organizations.
Student Activites Wall
The activity wall invites engagement during wait times through tearaway pads with mini games, fun facts, and student life tidbits!
Random Fence Generator
A fence on campus that students paint with friends and their organizations. Each paint swipe pulls a random image, showing what was painted on The Fence that day.
Maker Space & Work Display
Showcase of student work and how maker facilities support them. Ensured projects were well documented, descriptive, and accessible to visitors through a QR code↗
Wayfinding & Signage
An opportunity we defined was clearer signage for check-in, the welcome center itself, and for basic necessities like restrooms!
A nice big welcome! In addition to consolidating the check-in desk, we added a large signal letting guest know they're in the right place.
Guests had trouble locating the restroom, located around the corner out of immediate view—here we add a sign to aid in way-finding.
Spatial Opportunities
Through research and workshops, the team identified several opportunities and insights about how to create a more welcoming first impression of CMU.

Two mirrored desks often confused visitors, and a large space in the back of the welcome center was heavily underutilized and often walled off, as seen in the image to the left side of the desks.

Random Fence Generator
I was involved from ideation to installation. Visitors interact by "painting" the mini fence to explore an archive of what/who painted The Fence on a random day.
Interact to see what was happening that day on campus, in the world, or in someone's daily student life!