GIX Video Wall

Global Innovation Exchange (GIX)
Video Wall
2017

CLIENTS
Level 11 | GIX | University of Washington | Microsoft | BORA Architects

RESPONSIBILITIES
User Experience Design | User Interface Design | Motion Graphic Design

OVERVIEW
The Global Innovation Exchange (GIX) is a higher-ed collaboration between the University of Washington and Tsinghua University in Beijing, in partnership with Microsoft.

The new school offers an interdisciplinary curriculum where students can earn a UW Master of Science in Technology Innovation or dual degree in Tsinghua University’s Master of Engineering in Data Science and Information Technology. This is the first time a Chinese school has a physical presence in the United States.

PROBLEM
Level 11 first approached GIX and its stakeholders with a proposal to take the similar technologies they developed for Disney (MagicBand) and Carnival Corporation (OceanMedallion), and build out a first of its kind "smart-campus".

Unfortunately the vision to realize such a project was not in the budget, but they retained our services to do something on a smaller and more reasonable scale. The result was a 28' wide x 8' high, multi-touch, smart interactive video wall that was going to be the hub of the campus building.

APPROACH
We worked closely with GIX, Microsoft, and BORA Architects to understand the background story, the collectives expectations, the contributors, the users, and how the wall fits into the GIX overarching narrative. Our collaborative brainstorming resulted in creating a more dynamic, interactive installation to attract, entertain and inform visitors and students alike.

Since the building was still under construction, we were able to leverage our experience and partnership with BORA to digitally recreate the interior and two of their proposed design installations, in both Mixed (MR)and Virtual Reality (VR). By adding simple voice and gesture commands, we were able to view several iterations, validate configurations, address accessibility concerns, and test the placement and content of the screens on the wall.

RESULTS
Prototyping real-world situations in MR and VR using HoloLens, Oculus and Gear VR allowed us early validation, and more importantly better informed approvals saving time and budget.

The video wall was a unique opportunity to discovering how psychology, layout, organization and motion plays an important role when trying to attract, inform, engage, communicate and make content shareable for its users.

TOOLS
Illustrator | 3DS Max | Photoshop | Unity | After Effects

LINKS
Global Innovation Exchange Launch (Geekwire)
Level 11 Apex Experiences
Business Insider Press Release
Official Microsoft Blog - Global Innovation Exchange