Environmental Interpretive Center: Redesign

CHANNELS Exhibit Design - Branding - Typography - UI/UX

PROJECT ROLE Researcher - Exhibit Designer - Collateral Designer

GOAL:

Redesign the Environmental Interpretive Center at the University of Michigan Dearborn campus to help garner engagement and visibility in their community.

WHAT IS THE EIC?:

The EIC is a nature and learning center located on the University of Michigan Dearborn campus. They really value teaching the community about their surroundings, and getting them involved in nature.

OUR TAKE: My team began by identifying our theme for this redesign. Natural Movement movement became that prominent theme. Nature is always moving and changing. We developed a new flow for the building that matched that sentiment. From its wayfinding to its content. We created a whole new experience for guests that spanned from the digital world to the physical world, and can change with the seasons, migration patterns, and rainfall. We finished off this process by building a physical mockup of our watershed exhibit.

Outreach Material:

Wayfinding & Entry:

Bird Exhibit:

Auditorium:

Watershed Exhibit:

PROCESS:

SOFTWARE:
Illustrator
Photoshop
After Effects
Figma

COLLABORATORS: Karen Ruiz
Autumn English
Miyana Tatum

On-site Visit:

We began this project with a vist to the Environmental Interpretive Center to assess it’s current state and learn more about the surounding area. We learned about the center and it’s role in the University of Michigan Dearborn campus and how much they value community. We discovered certain exhibits were and we started brainstorming ways in which we could help improve the space for the community.

Research:

Next my team dove into their research to find the topics we wanted to focus on for the content of new exhibits, outreach strategies, and interior solutions. My group decided to focus on the watershed for our main exhibit since it is very important to the EIC’s identity. Once we settled on a concept and direction, we began sketching.

Sketching:

Myself and my teammate Miyanna focused on the Communictaion Design part of the project and we started looking at different setups and layouts for both exhibits, as well as collaborated with our interior design teammates to start planning out the new updated floorplan.

Design:

As we finally began out design phase, we chose our overall color pallette. We really wanted to focus in on colors that could be found in nature. It was then time to build out our exhibit prototype. With many trips to the laser cutter, plotter printer, and the Audio Visual Center, we were able to put together a fully functional watershed table exhibit complete with imagery, projection, and movable pieces that guide you through the history of the Rouge River Watershed.

This project was created as part of a student-sponsored collaboration with the Environmental Interpretive Center at the University of Michigan Dearborn.
All rights to the work are retained by the student creators and the sponsor.