Plastic

Brief

Expand a product (narrative) into a physical space to create immersive and participatory experiences.


Solution

Taking plastic as the product, an immersive experience emerges that allows visitors to question their role in the consumption and usage of plastic and its lasting effects on the environment. 

The typeface in use is Rigid Square by Dharma Type.

When selecting a typeface, I wanted something that had hard edges, rectangular forms, and a bold presence. Rigid Square’s bold yet unique form was a perfect solution to capture the texture of plastic through typography.

For color, blue was an ideal choice to create a visual story that connects plastic with the places it affects most.

Symbolically, blue is meant to represent the sea and the sky (air quality) as a nod to plastic’s contribution to pollution.

In this way, the color blue indirectly alerts visitors to question their relation to plastic and how their actions (littering, recycling, etc) contribute to plastic’s effects on our planet.

Upon arrival to the exhibition, visitors are invited to answer a questionnarie provided via iPad. Here, visitors will begin to understand the role they play in plastic consumption, waste, and ultimately environmental impacts like pollution.  

The iPad questionnaire aims to answer the questions “What role do you play?”

The exhibition takes the form of two floors:

Floor 1:

An above ground view of a swimming pool that visitors are encouraged to peer into. Walls with digital screens provide information and infographics analyzing the answers from the iPad questionnaire.

Visitors are invited to interact with the walls, using the touch screen feature to prompt new information to appear.

Floor 2:

The inside of a swimming pool that has been covered with life-size plastic bottles, takeaway food boxes, cups, and cans. Visitors are invited to walk through the space and feel how the physical size of the plastic objects impedes their ability to move freely. Therefore, inserting deeper commentary about how plastic waste effects environments such as the ocean, making it difficult for animals to move freely.

In the same way that plastic limits wildlife in the ocean, the pool renders itself unusable due to plastic waste. In turn, this experience will allow visitors to continue to reflect about their role in plastic consumption and usage.