Blue Telescope, a media and design studio creating interactive and narrative experiences, has shared insights into designing projects to spark emotional connections.
Our environment is filled with buttons, swipes, and screens, and it’s easy to confuse clicks with engagement, says the studio. However, the fundamental purpose of interactive media is to create opportunities to be emotionally moved, with or without physical engagement.
Judith Zissman, Blue Telescope executive creative director, says: “We love all the magical ways technology affords us to invite interaction. But every tool we use is in service of using the medium to create emotional connections that lead to transformation.”
Crafting connection
Many of Blue Telescope’s recent projects showcase a more embodied interactive approach.
For instance, the studio collaborated with Imagine to develop a cinematic pre-show experience as part of the exhibition update at the Delta Flight Museum. This traces the history of Delta from its beginnings, through a century of aviation innovation, and into the future.
270 degree visuals combine with advanced motion graphics, bespoke animation, and a unique musical score in a poignant story that evokes the wonder, possibility, and exhilaration of travel. Guests are invited to visit extraordinary places on an interactive journey, without needing to leave the building or push any buttons.
Kofi’s Fire is a multi-award-winning interactive experience that tells the true story of a 1741 uprising where enslaved Africans and white indentured servants set fire to warehouses in lower Manhattan.
For this project, Blue Telescope created a multi-dimensional story around Kofi, a real-life enslaved dock worker. This narrative piques the reader’s curiosity and deepens their investment, and makes scrolling to reveal the story an emotional, rather than mechanical, response.
Emotional engagement
At the Sloan Museum of Discovery, Blue Telescope added to its previous work by developing new AR and VR experiences for the History Gallery. With AR, the studio takes guests to spaces they would otherwise be unable to visit, such as inside Sloan’s World War II-era M18 Hellcat tank destroyer. Although the experience includes digital push buttons, the interaction is driven by a desire to see what’s behind the armour.
In a further AR experience, guests take on the role of a Flint Journal reporter to interview Billy Durant, founder of General Motors. The experience connects to cars, carriages, and other artefacts in the gallery, bringing these objects to life through the emotive human story.
Todd Slisher, executive director of The Sloan Museum of Discovery, says: “The advanced technology in these exhibits is exciting, but it’s only meaningful because it invites visitors to emotionally engage with stories from our community.”
Emotional connection is a powerful interactive tool. By harnessing it, attractions can make experiences accessible to all, regardless of age, ability, or technological ability. As Blue Telescope works to find new ways to meet audiences where they are, it continues to rely on emotional resonance to create extraordinary, unforgettable visitor experiences for its clients.
Last month, Blue Telescope announced the appointment of Madeleine DenBleyker as director of strategic growth. She brings experience in fine art, the luxury sector, museums, and themed attractions, with extensive knowledge of how brands and cultural organisations can develop meaningful connections with audiences.
