(2024)
DeMAKe: Dain Yoon
Maria Garsa
Arlo Robbins
Kathy Nam
In Through the Pane, DeMAKe transformed a real-world problem—birds colliding with windows at CalArts—into an immersive, participatory experience. Students were invited to step into the birds’ world, uncovering their stories and exploring ways to prevent future accidents.
By combining storytelling, spatial design, and hands-on engagement, Through the Pane created a layered, empathetic experience that inspires awareness, curiosity, and care for the living creatures in our built world.
My Role
Team Leader • Concept Ideation • Art Direction • Experience Design
Schedule Management • Design and Production
Believing that emotionally resonant experiences last longer than those absorbed intellectually, we focused on storytelling and carefully crafted both the space and its design to deliver it.
Our team members each have distinct design styles, so a shared design direction was established to create a cohesive final outcome. Inspired by origami, we based our illustrations on the shapes formed by folding paper, utilizing the creases as elements to form a unifying visual language for the project.
We also established a unified color palette. For typography, we chose Gardein as our main display font, its forms echoing the shapes of birds, and selected Archer as the secondary font to complement Gardein’s organic shapes with clean, linear forms.
1.
Outdoor Experience
Space:
In the outdoor space, visitors can experience an environment where birds fly freely.
- Visitors naturally understand the birds’ perspective and the sense of freedom they experience in their natural environment.
Design:
- Origami birds suspended from the trees at varying heights: illustrate how birds fly, perceive, and navigate their surroundings.
- Stepping stones with fun facts about the birds: encourage visitors to engage playfully while learning more, and guide them.
2.
Inside the
Main Building
Space:
Inside the main building, visitors encounter the collisions and stress that birds face when entering human spaces.
- Visitors gain an intuitive understanding of the threats and limitations birds experience, strengthening empathetic engagement.
Design:
- Origami birds attached to the walls: convey the constraints and tension imposed by human spaces.
- ‘Follow the Birds’ sign: placed along the route to reassure visitors that they are on the right path. It also directs them to turn left, reinforcing the idea of following the birds.
3.
Transparent Door & Beyond
Space:
The narrow hallway leading to the transparent door lets visitors feel the heightened stress that birds face as they navigate human spaces.
- Visitors gain anticipation for the final exhibition space and provide room for the “Be a Bird!” activity.
Design:
- Origami Birds placed on the transparent door: illustrate the moment of collision.
- Origami Birds decal on the floor outside: represents birds that fail to survive the encounter.
- Be a Bird! activity: allows visitors to experience what it feels like to be a bird.
4.
Courtyard in front of the BFA3 Studio
Space:
BFA 3 studio window and courtyard is a large space that feels like a final destination.
Design:
- Fallen birds on the ground: make the impact tangible.
- Illustration patterns on the window and story panel: demonstrate a method to prevent birds from hitting the glass and tell the tragic story of the Papa and Mama bird families, deepening visitors’ emotional engagement.
- Small bird tombstones: commemorate birds that have been lost and evoke sad feelings in the visitors.
- Gift a flower activity: allows visitors to participate in a memorial ritual by placing flowers on the tombstones, fostering personal engagement and empathy.
- Brochure and Origami Instruction: designed as a takeaway object in a square format with fold marks; when folded, it becomes a paper bird, giving visitors a tangible sense of bringing birds back to life by following the instructions.
Presentation Slides