GUSO (Get Up, Speak Out for Youth Rights!) was a five-year program where Rutgers and five other alliance partners worked together to improve the knowledge of rights and (sexual) health of young people in several African and Asian countries. After the program's conclusion, it needed a conference to celebrate and an exhibition to reflect on the results. Since none of those would be possible physically during the COVID-19 pandemic, we were asked to create an online alternative. I was responsible for UX- and design.
Over the five years, the program generated tons of research results, engaging stories, and learnings, and to showcase all of it; I designed a digital 'wall' with images placed in frames to mimic a physical museum scene.
Even though we knew a digital museum wouldn't give the same experience as a physical one, we wanted to create a 3d space where visitors would 'walk' by scrolling horizontally and feel immersed by the setting. The floor, the shadows created by the frames on the wall, lighting, and the doors' inner sides adapt their shape and perspective based on the browser's scroll position.
When entering the website, the visitors land in the 'lobby' space; here, we created — just like in a real museum — 'doors' that lead to exhibitions of the different countries consisting of their own stories and results.
To immerse the visitor in the whole experience and mimic physical art pieces, I designed 'frames' in combination with light sources and shadows, giving it a three-dimensional perception.
To celebrate and reflect on the program results, the client needed a place to host a 4-day remote conference. They wanted visitors to be able to register for a variety of online sessions and presentations. To make this possible, I designed a landing page outside of the museum experience where the entire conference program is listed.
Looking back at the project, I think we did a fantastic job considering the short and intense timeframe we had to deal with. It was great collaborating with Beyond Borders Media — who provided us with all of the content.
Floris de Langen (Art Direction), Eltjo Smit (Product Management), Martijn Houtman (Development), Roderik de Langen (Development), Jerry de Mars (Content), and Reinier van Oorsouw (Content).
