An immersive exhibit that helps employees reconnect with their purpose.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has the powerful purpose of fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. However, when they approached us, leadership had realized that the incredible impact they make on people’s lives had gotten lost in employees’ day-to-day work schedules. They needed to reconnect every individual at the Foundation with the true purpose of their work. They saw the organization’s upcoming annual all-employee convening in Seattle as an opportunity to do just that—and not using a presentation deck.
The Solution
In order to reconnect The Gates Foundations’ employees with the true impact their work was making in the world, our team designed an immersive exhibit experience. We travelled to three key locations: Beijing, to learn about their government partnerships, to the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh to meet with their grantees, such as the UNHCR, and Atlanta, GA, to learn about the lives of their end-beneficiaries living in impoverished neighborhoods. We documented their lives and experiences, and told their stories using found-object, written, and immersive audio. The result was an immersive experience that left some Gates employees in tears.
My Role
My role on this project was multi-faceted. I planned and lead photography, video and audio documentation at all research locations. Thereafter, I headed synthesis of research documentation, alongside ideation around the design of the exhibit experience at levels—ranging from high-level flow to design of each individual story display. I lead a team of visual and production designers through several rounds of full-scale exhibit prototyping and visual asset development, and oversaw on-site build and vendor relationships.
