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Exploring digital issues with physical exhibits
Interactive exhibits are powerful, performative acts that help us make sense of the world. Like rituals, they allow us to explore shared meanings and navigate the complexities of being human.
In today’s increasingly digital and often isolating world, finding meaningful ways to connect and understand shared norms has never been more urgent.
Incredibly proud of our product design students at Drexel University's for addressing this challenge through their exhibition, “Connection Not Found.”
Connection Not Found
Connection Not Found is a student-led exhibition that explores common digital challenges like miscommunication, privacy concerns, and information overload. By transforming these issues into hands-on, physical exhibits, visitors are prompted to think more deeply about their online experiences and share meaningful reflections.
This course is designed by Bamidélé Adio Elégbèdé (RitualShare) in collaboration with Drexel University (Prod 340 interdisciplinary studio), SAFELab (University of Pennsylvania), and Kaiser Permanente.
PMFA Framework
A framework for making the abstract tangible.
PMFA is a tool for designing Felt Knowledge: a synchronicity of touch, feeling, and insight.
Phenomenon: Start by identifying a lived tension, behavior, or moment that feels worth exploring.
Metaphor: Reframe that phenomenon through a metaphor that adds clarity or emotional resonance.
Form: Translate that metaphor into physical materials, space, or sensory interaction.
Action: Invite the participant into the experience through movement, decision-making, or emotional realization.
"How's Waldo?"
It's time to log off when...
Phenomenon: Information overload
Metaphor: The classic Where’s Waldo? game
Form: An immersive dome installation with flashing lights, overlapping sounds, and scents, accompanied by a response wall
Action: Visitors search for Waldo while navigating sensory overload, then reflect by answering a prompt on the wall "It's time to LOG OFF when..."
Team: Ryan Yahata, Isabella Cuares, Kate Allinson, Kevin Nguyen
"Hey"
What comes to your mind when you get a text that says "hey"?
Phenomenon: Miscommunication
Metaphor: The ambiguity of the text “hey”
Form: Suspended, multi-layered wooden sculpture shaped like overlapping speech bubbles, legible only from specific angles
Action: Visitors move around the sculpture to uncover various interpretations of “hey”
Team: Hannah Watson, Kai Thompson, Morgan Tiziker
"Tube of Time"
What's your daily screen time?
Phenomenon: Online addiction
Metaphor: “Pouring time down the drain.”
Form: Phone-shaped kiosk with rotary water pump
Action: Visitors turned a crank to fill the tube to their average daily screen time, then read a fun fact (e.g., 4 hr 24 min = “Watch The Lion King three times”).
Team: Mecham Lopez, Clara Wawrzyn, Christopher Franklin
"I Spy"
Are you being watched?
Phenomenon: Privacy and Surveillance
Metaphor: The childhood game "I Spy"
Form: Surveillance camera system with visitor control station
Action: Visitors explore the space, discover they’ve been recorded, then take control of the cameras with a joystick, experiencing both sides of surveillance and reflecting on power and privacy
Team: Rafael Bernstein, Eli Galdieri, Isaac Kreisman, Nathan Lee
"If people feel they understand the world around them, or, probably, even if they have the conviction that they could understand it if they wanted to, then and only then are they also able to feel that they can make a difference through their decisions and activities. Without this conviction people usually live with the sense of being eternally pushed around by alien events and forces." - Frank Oppenheimer
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