Experiential Design
interactive • wayfinding • events
ESCAPE ROOMS
Our custom rooms were designed and built entirely in-house. This work included narrative and gameplay development, interior design elements, layout and installation, integrated electronics, graphics and visual displays, and interactive puzzles, props, and other fabricated pieces.
MAKING OF：
the lost temple
Taking inspiration from the legend of the lost city of El Dorado and pop culture franchises like Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider, ‘The Lost Temple’ transports players to an ancient ruin hidden deep in the jungles of Central America — one riddled with tricky ciphers and perilous pitfalls.
GAME DEVELOPMENT
Players assume the role of an expedition team in search of a fabled “Golden Idol” hidden somewhere within the temple and must decode a series of puzzles to uncover it. Using ancient Aztec and Maya artifacts as reference, we developed our own original set of symbols and icons to use throughout the room and designed unique challenges in the style of classic cinematic booby traps. Participants work together to unlock loot crates, discover hidden chambers, and avoid “poison darts” triggered by pressure plates inscribed on the temple floor.
DESIGN + BUILD
Within the room are four floor-to-ceiling ‘megalithic’ pillars depicting skull-faced figures adorned with large gold medallions (a set of spinning, concentric discs).
The pillars not only add to the atmosphere of the room and make the shape of the space feel more organic, but they act as large playable surfaces that encourage teams to spread out and work simultaneously.
The smallest disc from each set of medallions is missing until players are able to recover them. They must then figure out which pillar each disc belongs to and — once properly attached — unscramble the medallion’s image.
When correctly aligned and completed, a combination of magnetic reed switches and unique RFID tags hidden in the medallions trigger the skulls to light up, providing an important color combination.
The group’s final challenge involves a large altar at the back of the room. At this point players will have collected four “obsidian” artifacts (cast from black semi-translucent resin), each containing an embedded RFID tag.
Players must reach blindly into the altar’s four openings and feel around for distinctly-shaped carvings. Using only tactile clues, they need to determine which artifact belongs to which carving.
Reaching in once more, players “sacrifice” their hands to place the artifacts correctly. When the last one is properly set, RFID readers shut off an electromagnet holding up a false panel in the altar, revealing the Golden Idol.
FINAL CONCEPT
The room’s dim lantern light and stony facade — invaded by jungle ferns and creeping vines — present an eerie, exotic atmosphere that captures player’s imaginations.
As with all our rooms, ‘The Lost Temple’ aims to provide a unique and exciting experience for participants regardless of how successful they are in achieving their escape.
MAKING OF：
final countdown
Developed as a mobile escape room, ‘Final Countdown’ pays homage to classic over-the-top ‘80s action films. Blending a few fantastic movie tropes of the era — radioactive contamination, Soviet bad guys, a ticking time-bomb — the result is dark, gritty, and dripping with neon.
DESIGN + BUILD
Our first mobile escape game, ‘Final Countdown’, was designed and built to operate inside an enclosed trailer cabin. This meant adapting to new technical challenges and anticipating practical concerns that might arise in the unconventional space.
It was important to consider details like: what kind of generator would be necessary to operate specific props (and for how long), which electrical components would be compatible with it and what their limits were, how to construct an engaging environment inside a compact space, and how to maximize that space so players would be comfortable.
FINAL CONCEPT
The greater purpose of ‘Final Countdown’ was to introduce the concept of escape rooms to an unfamiliar audience, setting up shop at local events, festivals or celebrations.
With the ability to now bring the room to the people, creating something with broader appeal — a strong cinematic narrative with a straightforward objective and exciting interactive props — felt like the natural choice.
Players would enter a visually striking atmosphere and quickly get to work diffusing a giant ‘bomb’ by translating blueprints to deactivate its multiple components before time runs out. Cues from lights and sounds grow with intensity, building anticipation and drama for an exhilarating experience.
MAKING OF：
medieval crimes
One of several multi-room designs, ‘Medieval Crimes’ serves as both a chilling, dungeon-themed adventure — containing secret passage ways and barbaric torture implements — as well as representing a promotional partnership with the neighboring Medieval Times dinner-theater.
MULTI-ROOM GAMEPLAY
Upon entering ‘Medieval Crimes’ players are split into two groups by the room’s Game Master (a staff member who oversees the game remotely and gives clues when necessary). They are placed into separate prisoner cells — with the ability to see and speak to each other — but confined to their respective enclosures and all that lies therein.
The groups must communicate with each other, sharing clues and information, in order to progress through the game. While both teams have opportunities to solve puzzles and explore new rooms, they’re only reunited after completing several challenges that land them all in the dungeon’s grisly torture chamber.
DESIGN + BUILD
As the group makes their way through the dungeon’s obstacles, they collect skulls that contribute to their escape. Each contains a unique RFID tag that helps open the game’s final lock after they’re “impaled” on mounted spikes in the correct order.
One such skull is retrieved only after unlocking an imposing iron maiden torture device. When a shaft of light appears through the iron grate of a fortified door, players use mirrors to bounce the light and “blind” the iron maiden.
When the light hits the maiden’s eyes, a photosensitive device housed within triggers the casket to illuminate and opens it’s doors to reveal more clues.
COOPERATIVE GAMEPLAY
One of the room’s collaborative puzzles involves custom-made flickering ‘torches’ that line the back walls of both prisoner cells. While exploring the space, players will discover these torches can be pulled back and forth to shut their lights on and off via hidden magnetic reed switches.
After working together to unlock the doors of a small, barred window in one of the cells, players on that side of the dungeon are able to see a set of lit (and unlit) candles arranged in an order that mimics the cell torches.
After communicating this to players in the opposite cell, both groups are able to manipulate the torches illumination pattern to match the candles, opening a hidden passage for players in the window-less cell to move on to the next challenge.
FINAL CONCEPT
Treading into darker subject-matter, ‘Medieval Crimes’ evokes a world filled with anguish and despair through the use of stark red and blue lighting, towering black stone walls, and menacing wrought iron features.
Participants take on the role of political prisoners sentenced to death for their crimes against the new King — a corrupt imposter who has laid claim to the throne.
To evade execution the group must break free of their shackles, uncover the dungeon’s hidden escape routes, and collect evidence to expose the fraudulent King’s true intentions.
MAKING OF：
the vanishing act
Set during the Golden Age of Magic, ‘The Vanishing Act’ is dressed in the opulent aesthetics popular around the turn of the century. Films like The Prestige and accounts from the lives of real performers like Harry Houdini inform the tone of this curious room cloaked in mystery.
GAMEPLAY
In ‘The Vanishing Act’, players enter the dressing room of an enigmatic magician who just debuted his new disappearing trick — from which he never returns. As his personal stage assistants, the group must search for clues as to his whereabouts and recover his private journal to protect the secrets inside from his many rivals.
The room showcases a few fun illusions and some sleight-of-hand in the form of a magic spirit board, gazing crystal ball, and trap doors. It also incorporates many practical, hands-on games to get players more involved with the space and draw them deeper into the room’s mysterious narrative.
DESIGN + BUILD
The most interactive puzzle in the room is the magic sword box. After players unlock a trunk containing five (non-lethal) swords — each with a distinct line etched into the blade — they must roll a large cabinet (the sword box) to the center of the room.
There are several slots on each face of the cabinet. Players must test every slot to find the proper fit for each sword. They will know they’ve found the correct slot when the line on the sword is flush with the cabinet. Above each slot is a character which provides the next combination.
FINAL CONCEPT
The group’s adventure begins when they discover a gramophone resting in a corner of the room. When they crank the handle to play the device, a voice begins to crackle through the brass horn — it’s a recording of the missing magician, the Great Anton.
In the message, he provides cryptic clues which will lead players on a path to discover the truth behind his suspicious disappearance. Together, participants work to break encrypted messages, operate theatrical rigging systems and unlock a towering water torture tank.
The finished room is cast in a gloomy luster, evoking a theatrical atmosphere. Blending characteristics from the burgeoning Spiritualist movement and obscure technological advancements of the time conjures a phantasmagorical experience.
ESCAPE ROOM TRAILERS
BLUESTONE ELEMENTARY
With a focus on welcoming the diverse student body of Harrisonburg to Bluestone Elementary School, the themed wayfinding graphics celebrate the unique local environment while connecting geological similarities to global landscapes.
CELEBRATING DIVERSITY
Harrisonburg City Public Schools is one of the most diverse school systems in Virginia representing over 60 different countries and speaking over 50 different languages. Bluestone Elementary School’s design embraces cultural diversity while highlighting the relationship between the city and its global context. These design elements help students relate to their larger world while feeling part of their community and landscape.
STORYTELLING NARRATIVE
Our design team used the unique local landscape of Harrisonburg, nestled in the valley adjacent to Shenandoah National Park, as a narrative for the wayfinding system.
CONNECTING LOCAL GEOLOGY
Moving through Bluestone mimics exploring a park for students. The three floors are themed Caverns, Valley, and Mountains, reflecting the geology of the area and construction of the building. Each academic wing is a different trail with each classroom representing a different local species.
LOCAL-TO-GLOBAL CONNECTIONS
Shared spaces feature graphics connecting the similarities of Harrisonburg’s local sites to unique landscapes across the world highlighting the beauty of global diversity for the students.
DUKE HALL GALLERY
The Duke Hall signage system was designed to cement the creative institution’s reputation as a fun, beautiful space, intended for both making and learning, while also capturing the essence of museums and exhibition spaces that inspire reverence among visitors.
DESIGN
Each signage concept includes detailed descriptions of the piece’s intent, not only in its visual design but how it contributes to visitors’ experiences in and around the Duke Hall building. Included are clear explanations and illustrations of the material choices and hardware necessary for installation.
COLOR BY NUMBERS
To help visitors easily orient themselves within the building, signs were designed to provide location cues through color and material choices. A different color is designated for each individual floor based on prominent elements that already existed in those spaces.
SOURCE MATERIALS
Though they share the same foundational design, each of the studio signage pieces incorporates a different material in its construction as an expression of the mediums used in that particular classroom. While the primary purpose is to inform, the signs also help bring students and faculty together as they reconstruct them year after year — cultivating a sense of ownership and investment in the space.
PLAYING WITH SCALE
High-visibility pieces like the building’s exterior glass signage employ scale as a method of interacting with the surrounding community — everyone from the building’s visitors and nearby pedestrians to passing motorists and distant observers across campus.
CONNECT 2020
Connect 2020 was a national sales conference celebrating the unification of Valassis Communications, Inc. (a marketing and media services company) and kicking off the new selling year.
The three-day event required a diverse visual brand that illustrated the company’s personal brand, exemplified the conference’s message, “The Power of One”, and could be adapted to a secondary, camp-themed brand that would encompass the conference’s evening events.
BRAND DEVELOPMENT
Based on the Valassis-brand guidelines our team developed a bolder, more saturated color palette to express the excitement around the conference as well as provide high visibility for attendees. Color testing also ensured consistency across all digital and printed assets.
Incorporating the company’s established typography (DIN 2014 and Proxima Nova), the ‘Connect’ brand elements are derived from the conference’s message of a single unified company. Reminiscent of children’s building blocks, the diverse parts are united to create a whole — literally becoming ONE.
SIGNAGE + WAYFINDING
The Connect 2020 conference required numerous, large-scale items in and around the main ballroom and breakout spaces to help guide and inform attendees.
Printed work included branded escalator signage, registration table slicks, large surface graphics, tabletop signs, posters, flags, banners, lollipop signs, photo booth decals, and swag items like stickers and t-shirts.
DIGITAL ASSETS
Extensive digital design work was also required for the event. Throughout the space, screens displayed rotating slides, serving as both additional branding and key informational pieces, with a different series for each day of the conference.
The team designed presentation items, including images to introduce speakers, share pull-quotes, and provide session overviews. A conference-branded layout was also created for speaker training slides.
SALES CAMP
The conference’s afternoon events were intended to have a more casual atmosphere — meant for attendees to network and participate in fun activities. Organizers requested a separate branding approach to differentiate these experiences from the more buttoned-up morning sessions.
BRAND ELEMENTS
Branded “Sales Camp” by organizers, the visual style evoked a retro summer camp experience. The logo icon — a burning camp fire — was based on a visual element synonymous with the Valassis brand (a gradated plus-sign motif).
To retain some association with the larger conference, the color scheme and building block features from the Connect brand remained. The elements were altered to create new imagery specific to the Sales Camp theme — creating natural forms reminiscent of rivers, mountains, and sunshine.
SOCIAL EVENTS
All general Sales Camp signage incorporated these nature-inspired elements as a way to guide and inform participants of various after-hours activities. Deliverables included more specific items tailored to special experiences, including branded menu cards, cups and napkins for dinner events, poster signage for a popcorn bar, a “build your own” hot chocolate stand, giveaway items like hats, stickers, and canteens, and a large backdrop banner for a Lip Sync Battle.
DIGITAL WALLPAPER
One of the venue’s more unique features was a large LED screen made up of individual panels that could be arranged in various shapes or patterns.
To utilize this, our team created various animations that reflected each presenter’s area of expertise (e.g. data analysis), as well as general floating backgrounds based on the Connect brand.
POWER OF ONE
On the final day of the conference, the previously separated LED panels merged to become one complete image — reinforcing the theme of the newly unified company.
To drive the message home, one of the wallpapers used throughout the conference — floating block elements on an otherwise empty plane — appears on the screen once more as the blocks join together as ONE.
