Becoming a Graphic and Digital Designer: A Guide to Careers in Design, 5th Edition

Chapter 14Interactive Multimedia Installations and Interfaces

How do you make sure that viewers and users, who are exposed to at least 3000 unsolicited messages a day, are actually remembering what they survey, read, hear, see, or touch? Interactive communication designers have an answer: They create immersive, open-ended narratives that turn passive spectators into active participants. On giant screens, on kiosks and on all sorts of stationary or mobile devices, the latest technological innovations are probed and tested to elicit the most dynamic response from the audience.

Exhibit designers, like interface designers, create information pathways with multiple options. The goal is to propose open navigation scripts for visitors and viewers to explore a given topic as they please. To create these learning experiences, you don't have to be an information technology (IT) expert. More critical will be your curatorial role—your ability to select artifacts, orchestrate programs, and develop sequential visual narrations. That's why visual designers hired in this specialty must have a general level of education allowing them to handle a broad range of topics—including medical, retail, automotive, finance, history, music, or mass media.

Today, no cultural exhibit, art installation, fashion show, promotional event, or industrial trade show is complete without some sort of interactive display integrating two or more media. To manage this type of project, visual designers work in teams, ...