Rocky Mountain STEAM Fest
The Experience Design cohort was busy over the weekend as we manned a booth at this years’ Rocky Mountain STEAM Fest. As part of our curriculum, we were given the opportunity to design a fairly simple experience for the event with a limited budget. Our goal was to create an engaging activity that appealed to children of all ages while exploring scientific and artistic concepts. Thus, The Art of Composing was born.
The STEAM fest aims to celebrate all things creative, imaginative, and exploratory. The age of fair attendees ranges vastly from teetering toddlers through high school students and parents, so we wanted to design an experience that was equally as playful and it was educational. Fluid mechanics and flow visualizations seemed to be a great fit for our scope because we were able to easily engage with our guests, create a fun decorated takeaway with paper marbling, and showcase a creative intersection of science and art. To further highlight creativity, we hired a couple of musicians to perform an improvisational composition that was custom inspired by the guest’s marbled design. Imagine the surprise and awe of a child who contributed to a unique musical performance based on their art! It was a rewarding experience to witness.
Main take aways from the weekend:
Successfully designed an easily repeatable experience that could handle the 2,000+ capacity of daily fair visitors
The experience was customizable in how playful versus how “scientific” the activity was based on needs/desires of the guests
Guests had the choice to decorate a bookmark or a hat — the wearables were easily noticed throughout the rest of the fair and encouraged other guests to stop by and make their own (free advertising!)
Kids loved seeing the “big reveal” of the marbled design on their item
Witnessed lots of great photo opportunities — parents especially loved taking pictures of their children playing with the musicians
Our space also offered a relaxed chill-out space which was a rare find in the bustling fair — people appreciated the opportunity to sit and listen to the music as long as they wanted
Read more about the fair from the Daily Camera here.
