Visual Designs for the Smith Learning Theater

These are some of the visual design projects I worked on at EdLab. These include digital signage, name tags and posters for the Smith Learning Theater.

Smith Learning Theater Reception Signage Design

The Smith Learning Theater welcomes visitors and participants with a large screen in the reception area. The information on the screen is customized for each event, mainly showing welcome messages and the program information. The Theater needed a visual structure that included permanent information, such as the theater logo and social media handles, and dynamic information that changed with each event, such as the speaker info and the day's schedule. I designed the overall structure and several templates that served as a basis for various event signs. 

EdLab uses a digital signage software called Sedna Presenter to manage and display signages in the Smith Learning Theater. One of the challenges of this project was to make my templates work with the way Sedna arranged and updated information.

When I was learning how to use the software to understand what kind of visual structure would work best with it, I noticed that Sedna worked in a way similar to how "divs" work in HTML. I could create multiple rectangular boxes within a visual field, and each box could be controlled individually. The boxes could contain a variety of media formats, including web pages, static images and videos.

I created a signage structure that made use of these individually controllable boxes. For example, the date and time blocks were assigned HTML pages so they would update automatically. 

Smith Learning Theater Toolkit Poster Series

The Smith Learning Theater is equipped with a variety of lighting, audio-visual and physical tools that can be used to produce a learning event. I designed a series of introductory posters to help patrons familiarize themselves with the available tools. The posters were installed as Easter Eggs in the Learning Theater during an experimental event. 

Smith Learning Theater Name Tag Design

These were the first generation of name tags used at the Smith Learning Theater. I designed them inspired by the color scheme of the space. I had originally designed a version with lighter colors as well, but because the lighting in the Theater was almost always dim during events, I noticed the content were difficult to see in low light. After some testing, I came to a conclusion that the information was most visible when it had white text against dark background.

The production of these name tags turned out to be unexpectedly time-consuming, however, and the team eventually moved onto a simpler laser-cut version.