Henrietta or Bust!
Henrietta or Bust!
An Interactive Gallery in Experiential Design
History
In 1959, Rochester Institute of Technology moved its campus from its downtown Rochester, NY location to the suburbs in Henrietta, NY. To celebrate the move, RIT galleries held an exhibition.
Focus space: Bevier Gallery
Bevier Gallery is the student-run gallery space at the second-floor entrance of the College of Arts and Design. It is a large space with an open floor plan. Perks of the space include open space, a unique vantage point, with a large overhead viewing space from the third floor, and incredibly tall walls that present for the opportunity of a more impactful presentation.
Branding
Branding followed Rochester Institute of Technology’s official guidelines, officially available through the university.
Using the existing guidelines, typography was created using a combination of sans serif and serif fonts: Arial in regular, italic, and black regular, and Georgia in regular and italic.
Colors followed official RIT colors, in combination with white (000000) and black (FFFFFF), Cool Grey 1C and 1U, PMS 5497 C and U, Pantone 716 C and Pantone 158 U.
CONTENT
All content was provided by Rochester Institute of Technology. Photos of the construction of the new campus were available, as well as historical photos of the old campus, located in downtown Rochester.
title Wall
The audience would enter to the left of the gallery, along the long wall featuring artwork.
Artwork
Photography would primarily be displayed along the long wall of the gallery space.
Along another wall, the history of RIT’s logos would be displayed.
Aerial views
With the advantage of the open ceilings, I opted to create a display of aerial photographs that would be projected to the ground, and best viewed from the third floor commons.
Timeline
A timeline of the history of Rochester Institute of Technology was created with the intention of educating viewers of the events of the university.
Interactive elements
Interactive elements were added to the exhibition to add technological interest, as well as the opportunity to display the archive of all works, particularly those that did not fit within the gallery safe.
Searchable by tags, users can choose what images they would like to further explore. From historical site photographs, to current features on campus!
Users also have the option to search further into photographs to points of interest, using a zoom function.
Overview
Rochester Institute of Technology is a school with a vast history. Being given the opportunity to design a proposal for the 50th anniversary of the opening of the suburban campus, I was ecstatic. A unique space to work with and the opportunity to explore my design capabilities between analogue and digital technologies created a challenge that was met with enthusiasm. Though my design was not officially chosen as the gallery display, the opportunity was appreciated and the challenge was a great exercise for my critical design thinking skills.