Inside the story
At National Geographic's Museum of Exploration in Washington, D.C., The Archives invites visitors behind the scenes of exploration and visual storytelling. Historic material becomes a starting point for hands-on discovery: how stories are told, how photographs are chosen, and how a magazine comes together.
Working with NeoPangea, I built two interactives for the exhibition: the Magazine Readers and Photo Editor.
Magazine Readers
Four marble book forms become surfaces for projected National Geographic stories. Using proprietary algorithms, depth-sensing cameras and gesture tracking let visitors turn the pages with a swipe and interact with the projected magazines, keeping the interaction rooted in the familiar act of reading together.
Each reader presents a different story. The projection gives archival pages a presence in the gallery while the book itself provides a natural invitation to explore.
Photo Editor
The Photo Editor puts visitors in the editor's seat. On a touchscreen, they review images from two real assignments, compose a magazine spread, and compare their selections with a National Geographic editor's decisions. Choosing what to include becomes a way to understand how images shape a story.
Explore more
Read NeoPangea's post on the museum interactives for more about the installations and the wider collaboration, and visit The Archives exhibition page for museum info.