This week, we settled on a new hardware design so we can move forward on our deliverables and content.

For a while, we were moving towards a completely new idea: smaller digital screens made to look like picture frames, like an art gallery or museum. However, we were concerned that this would greatly restrict the types of content the installation could be used for. It also doesn’t have the right advanced technology and “wow factor” impact we are going for.

We re-thought our design once again. Our new concept uses our original moving grid, with curved, immersive, touchable “wings”.

The new “wings” will be possible with flexible OLED displays or similar technology. They will extend content to the ends of the display for the benefit of people approaching the wall from the side, as they will undoubtedly do so down this long hallway. They also create a central area that is somewhat more surrounded by the wall, making it more immersive. We can also use this area as our target-area for directed sound. We also feel that this new shape to the wall gives it a much more futuristic, high tech feeling, and it will still look interesting even if the displays are turned off.

We can also take advantage of the space behind the wings to add additional lighting effects.

We would like to use our art frame gallery idea from earlier today as part of our proposed content for the grid area. The depth control would allow for actual physical presence to be given to digitally created “frames”, thus enhancing the content. Sticking with this more standard wall as opposed to separate, individual frames also keeps the display versatile and re-usable for different forms of content for years to come. This was something our client was concerned about.

We are looking towards removing the table kiosks entirely and moving that content to the touchable wings. These kiosks so far have felt very secondary to the experience, and we believe consolidating the components will make it feel more cohesive. It will also allow us to give the wall itself a lot more consideration since our focus will be less divided. We would still like to include sitting areas within the space. We’re playing with the idea of enabling this standard furniture so that it can interact with the nighttime projections.