The Challenge

The TEDxRVA creative team reached out to us at the VCU Brandcenter with a challenge: to create an emotionally-heightened, dynamic environment that stimulates introspection for the TEDxRVA seminar taking place on March 28th, 2014.

The goals were:

• Use theater space inside and outside in the most authentic manner to maximize its creative potential.
• Provide interactive experiences with audience to make them “active.”
• Create a bridge between the stories on stage and the audience.
• Use technology creatively to connect the digital and the real world.
• Reward audience curiosity through unexpected experiences.
• Highlight Richmond and the greater community
• Use creative technology within the space to give a voice to members of the audience.

The Idea

What we created was a voting booth where attendees could vote using their hands connected to copper panels and a MakeyMakey, as well as turn dials to submit their opinions on 3 categories: Art, Education, and Philanthropy. The values selected on the dials under those categories were interpreted as color values between 0-255. Those values mixed a color palette that was then sent to the cloud to the left of the stage. Throughout the day the colors of the cloud changed to reflect the ‘mood’ of the audience. We also recorded 30 second video clips of people in the voting booth asking them about their TEDxRVA experience.