PRODUCTION ART • HANDMADE
Word Cube
(and hallway lanterns)
Agency: Evoke Mind+Matter
Project: paper lanterns projecting words and phrases onto walls, part of an immersive experience for a client pitch emphasizing the patient journey. The main lantern was a cube projecting words and phrases in all directions in an otherwise dark room, while smaller lanterns were set up along the length of the hallway leading to that room.
The rare disease in question causes patients to lose their eyesight, so a hallway in the agency office was shaded with increasingly heavy material over the lights. As visibility gets worse, the words representing the patient’s struggles become more prominent until the viewer is surrounded by darkness and insecurities.
My role: lead on design, creation, and installation of the custom lanterns and hallway light shading
Production Art
The direction given was fairly loose, and I was able to take the initiative and decide with my team how the lamps should be put together. Patient testimonials were provided, and I used those to create the structure.
While I did design this cube – determining the sizes of each panel and structure, which words/phrases to include, how big they should be and where they should be placed, for the sake of how I’m categorizing my work on this site I’ll call it Production Art and not Graphic Design. The whole thing is a collection of dielines, which graphic designers do not always deal with, although the line between the two roles can be fuzzy.
Design note: The panel at the bottom was initially intended to be the top of the cube, allowing space for a hanging wire to be pulled through and then blocking off the light leak. However, upon testing we realized that the words cut into that panel didn’t work as we would have liked them to, so they were later removed.
Handmade
As much as this was a design and production process, ultimately the cube and all the smaller lanterns were handmade pieces and much of the design was trial and error. We learned a lot through our failed prototypes! The end result was a custom, unique art installation for just a few minutes of use to a very select audience, and I am thrilled to have been a part of it.
Half assembled prototype
Prototype fully assembled, showing the top panel as a flaps rather than the single panel of the initial design for ease of hanging
Prototype test projection
Final product as individual panels spread out on a table; tape is over the words to keep the small shapes like the insides of the letters A and O in place
Cube panels attached but not yet folded closed
Final cube assembled
Projection testing indicated the need for multiple lights in multiple directions as well as dividers to keep the light from bleeding to other sides and casting multiple sets of the same words offset from each other
Lighting was accomplished through inexpensive touch lights taped to a central support; one of the two LEDs on each light needed to be taped over to prevent multiple projections of each word
View of final lantern from below
View of final lantern from close to the floor
View of final lantern from standing height
Several smaller lanterns were attached along the hallway to project words to the opposite wall
As with the cube lantern, one of these bulbs in each tough light also needed to be blocked to prevent duplicate projections
Left: projected words; Right: lantern attached to the wall
