AdventureLAB | Experience Design

Robot Games Festival 2022

Ecaterina Capatina — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 18:19:57 +0000

Robot Games Festival

The project scope

Robot Games Festival was an event organised during Aarhus Festuge 2022. Hans Klysner, who is the mastermind behind the project and founder of Robotworkshop, had the purpose of creating a one-of-a-kind format for a robot-themed event. Robotworkshop offers teambuilding activities and workshops based on robot building and play. For this event, the scope was to enhance the visitor experience with storytelling, theming and multi-layered experience.

Our role

AdventureLAB’s role was to elevate visitor experience with storytelling and experience design. In close collaboration with Robotworkshop and Aarhus University, we created a large-scale timeline, taking visitors through the history of robots. To add another layer of experience, we designed a quiz-based game, which could be played by children aged 12-14 or smaller children with parents. We also designed the event mascot character and elements such as banners, logos and other graphics for printed and digital assets.

Event banner design

Quiz-based game design

Event mascot character design

Robot history timeline print concept and design

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Pirate Experience Room at Bornholms Middelaldercenter

Ecaterina Capatina — Mon, 20 Sep 2021 09:12:22 +0000

Pirate Experience Room at Bornholm's Medieval Center

The project scope

In 2021, Bornholms Middelaldercenter (Bornholm’s Medieval Center) opened a new pirate experience room.

The experience is based on the history and legends about the pirates who roamed the Baltic Sea in the 14th Century.

The Medieval Center wanted to offer an experience for their guests that would help them learn about the pirates and their missions and engage them with interactive activities inside and outside the room.

The room size is approximately 52m², with one entrance for guests and one for staff.

The outcome

Experience room with the title “Middelalderens Sørøvere i Østersøen” (The Medieval Pirates of the Baltic Sea)

AdventureLAB worked together with the Medieval Center not only to provide the creative content but also to design the exhibition applying the latest storytelling-based design methodology.

The 52m² room was transformed to resemble a ship deck, with a backdrop of a minimalised sunset over the sea. The room combined learning with sensory experience, gameplay, multimedia content and immersive design.

The story and experience were interconnected with the application of Integrated Storytelling. Read below for a more detailed explanation.

Theming

The small closed room allowed us to create a themed space where we could control the light, crowd movement, and audience engagement.

The transition from outside into the room takes place on a “bridge”. We step on it, as if from the pier, and onto the ship. Therefore, right from the entrance, we are already engaged in the narrative of the room.

Narrative

As we enter the room, we find ourselves on the deck of a cog (a type of a medieval ship). The space tells the story of the medieval pirates through different objects we can find here. From weapons to food to board games, we get an idea of what a day on the ship might have looked like. We move around the room and upwards on the ladder leading to the castle to discover the different objects and micro-stories.

Multimedia

The content of the experience room is presented in a variety of formats: from text to video to audio stories, to gamification. We kept the text display to a minimum and therefore used a guidebook and a set of symbols at each point of interest for navigation. An original piece of ambience music is synchronised with the day and night theme of a map projection on one of the walls.

Gameplay

Using a set of symbols for each point of interest in the room, we built a game based on exploration. Using the book, the object in the room, and a map, we find the answers to the questions that help us discover the destination of the room. This game is simple to play by the younger guests on their own or with the help of the parents.

Characters

As history is reflected in real stories, we introduced a few historical characters and let them tell their stories as if in their own words. We are introduced to the context by a narrator and then thrown right in the middle of the main events described by the characters. Using the technology of QR codes, we listen to the stories on our own devices.

Integration

The elements in the experience room work together, aligning in the story universe – StoryVerse. The audio stories reflect various aspects of the pirate life, as do the objects in the room. The “ship” theme zooms into everyday life, while the audio stories, the projected map and the game zoom out to a wider view of history, putting Bornholm in the context of the Hanseatic wars, battles for the Danish crown, and more.

Play a short excerpt from the ambient music

https://www.adventurelabstudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Ambience-music-Day-theme-excerpt.mp3

Characters and interaction. Photo by Bornholms Middelaldercenter

Spices for sensory experience. Photo by Bornholms Middelaldercenter

The sleep corner. Photo by Bornholms Middelaldercenter

The ladder leading up to the castle. Photo by Bornholms Middelaldercenter

Design concept visualisation – Castle view

Design concept visualisation – Front view

Credits

Concept and design
AdventureLAB

Creative content (storytelling, digital and print media, graphics)
Anna Maria Kristensen
Asta Staal
Ecaterina Capatina
Lena Mühlig
Kasper Vegeberg
Klaus Sommer Paulsen
Veronika Guseva

Music:
Frederik Neumann

Room design concept visualisation:
Michael Boskovich

Shipbuilding:
Rylander : Kure

Voiceover:
Kristin la Cour
SpeakOnline

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Sørøver Udstilling på Bornholms Middelaldercenter

Ecaterina Capatina — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 11:24:17 +0000

Pirate Exhibition at Bornholm's Medieval Center

In progress

The Project

In 2021, Bornholms Middelaldercenter (Bornholm’s Medieval Center) will open a new pirate exhibition for their guests.

The Center dedicated the exhibition to the pirates who roamed the Baltic Sea in the 14th Century. What makes these pirates special is that they saw themselves as professionals in maritime violence. Attacking the enemy’s ships was for them a well-paid job, rather than a lifestyle. At the same time, their opponents called them “sørøvere” which means “sea robbers”.

The Medieval Center wants to create an experience for their guests that will not only help them learn about these pirates and their missions but also engage them with interactive activities.

The challenge is to integrate an exhibition with a different design in the entire identity of the centre. It will be an indoors exhibition with additional activities taking place outside.

Our Role

Currently, AdventureLAB is working together with BMC not only to provide the creative content but also to design the exhibition applying the latest storytelling-based design methodology.

We are working to open the door to the medieval world, with immersive spacial design, rich stories, pirate legends and more.

To design the experience, we combine the eventful history of the pirates with fictional storytelling, mythology and gamification. We make it possible by applying the Integrated Storytelling principles. We are working with a variety of story levels and audience roles. This allows us to offer the visitors experiences that are as personalised as possible.

This will be one of a kind experience in the entire Bornholms Middelaldercenter.

The opening of the exhibition is scheduled for 2021.

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WAOO Fanzone

Ecaterina Capatina — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 14:06:30 +0000

WAOO Fanzone

Their Challenge

What do you do to create a stand-out, brand-related experience as an internet service provider at the 2019 IHF World Men’s Handball Championship Fanzone? This was the question asked by the Danish company Waoo when they sponsored the Danish handball team in 2019’s championship. Waoo wanted more than a Fanzone; they wanted a branded presence and new interested customers.

Our Solution

Our solution for Waoo was to design their Fanzone as an explorative space, where visitors could go searching for peculiar facts about the internet and participate in a quiz about what they found out.

The space was expanded by sensory experiences such as: the smell of coffee beans (did you know that the first webcam was invented to monitor a coffee maker?), 360 degree soundscapes including the illusion of standing on the top of Mt. Everest (did you know that you have mobile internet access at its peak) and cans of spam (no further explanation should be needed here). The experience provided good fun with a direct connection to the brand for participants of all ages, who would often engage in groups, and a high rate of participants would sign up for the Waoo newsletter afterwards.

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MAPIC

Caroline Tuason — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 13:44:35 +0000

MAPIC

AdventureLAB and TEA @ MAPIC

For the past three years, the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) has been participating at MAPIC, the annual, international retail property market held in Cannes, France.

Klaus Sommer Paulsen of AdventureLAB has been planning and moderating TEA talk sessions, as an International Board Member. MAPIC has been an important event for both the association and us, as it allows AdventureLAB to challenge the retail industry and bring storytelling into the spotlight as an essential tool in customer experience design.

MAPIC 2019

This year, Klaus Sommer Paulsen and nine outstanding international experts will challenge the leisure industry during two TEA Leisure Talk sessions on November 13th and 14th with the themes Storytelling @ Work and Technology @ Play respectively.

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Urban Green Copenhagen Tour

Caroline Tuason — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 13:35:53 +0000

Urban Green Copenhagen Tour

Their Challenge

The client for this project was Stromma, the largest provider of destination experiences in the Nordics. In May 2019, they launched a new route for their Hop-On, Hop-Off bus tours in Copenhagen. They called this route Urban Green Copenhagen, and it explores the area of Frederiksberg. Their challenge was to entertain the visitors with an exciting new script for the audio tour on the bus.

Our Solution

You can see from the title that the mission of this tour is to show Copenhagen differently, going a bit further from the traditional historical and cultural centres. This tour is about the people of Copenhagen and the way they spend their time in the city.

We wrote, tested and delivered the full audio library with a selected tone of voice that might seem more casual, but at the same time, more inviting. We have researched all the destinations and build the script on captivating facts. We also wanted to give the visitor of Copenhagen a sneak peek behind the curtain, so we shared more insights about the daily life in the capital of Denmark.

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In the Footsteps of the Viking King

Caroline Tuason — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 13:28:49 +0000

In the Footsteps of the Viking King

Their Challenge

The challenge was to tell the story of one of the most famous Viking kings, Harald Bluetooth, his life and his battle with his own kin, to be experienced at the remnants of his famous fortresses, Trelleborg.

Step by step, the audience needed to be taken through the grounds of the ancient fortress while being presented with the final chapter in the life of the king, who is also known for the Christianisation of the Danes.

Our Solution

The dramatised tour of Trelleborg was a departure from the usual practice of presenting historical information. History was now presented as mobile storytelling, engaging audiences with a new kind of narrative. This also meant that new ways of collaborating with historical experts were discovered.

The concept and content were created based on our “create concepts that use and transcend current technologies” philosophy, and today, the content is still being used on newer mobile platforms. It helped provide a 24/7 experience, that is not dependent on the opening hours of the visiting centre.

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The Halls of the Battle of Hastings

Caroline Tuason — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 13:27:25 +0000

The Halls of the Battle of Hastings

The Story

The Battle of Hastings in 1066 is one of the most significant battles of its time. With it, the Anglo- Saxon era ends, and the kingdom of England comes under Norman rule. To the non-British, the battle is also considered to mark the end of the Viking age. It is the story of how the death of a childless king sets up a succession struggle, culminating in the invasion of England and the death of the newly-crowned king, all happening within the time span of a year.

The Experience

The Battle of Hastings is a complete, dramatised retelling of history depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry and presented as a one-hour audio presentation of the story in a series of hallways with new artwork paraphrasing the original, historical art.

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The Magic Potion

Caroline Tuason — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 13:18:32 +0000

The Magic Potion

The Project

The Magic Potion was done in collaboration with Alterface Projects and was a short-term installation at IAAPA 2017 in Orlando, Florida. It was to showcase their Wander® technology, which allows the audience to move from room to room in a non-linear order. People would go to a central point, where they’d get their mission, and they’d have a magic wand that they would carry from one place to the next. Each place would have different tasks that had to be completed using the wand, such as picking apples.

AdventureLAB’s role was to tie the story together and create the script, which involved research into the IP to determine the correct style and tone and then adapting it for the installation. The Magic Potion was a mix between experience design and interactive, non-linear storytelling.

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Murder at Sørup Manor

Caroline Tuason — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 13:16:43 +0000

Murder at Sørup Manor

The Story

During the day, Sørup Manor is a lovely place to visit, with its historic architecture and the surrounding nature. At nightfall, it becomes clear not everything is as it should be. Someone was once murdered here. It’s now up to a small group of guests to find out who did it. Once they have enough clues, will they guess the identity of the murderer, or will someone beat them to it?

The Challenge

Sørup Manor is a hotel that wanted to create an exciting and unique experience for their guests visiting on business, as a form of team building. AdventureLAB came up with the idea to have a “murder mystery” in the manor, an experience that would utilise both the manor itself and the surrounding grounds.

Our Solution

The story revolved around a person who was killed in one of the towers of the old building. Participants used their mobile devices to explore the manor looking for clues as to who could be the culprit. The experience was narrated and had a gamification element, as participants would go back to the central point of origin to share their guesses as to who the murderer was and to learn if their accusation was correct.

Murder at Sørup Manor was one of the first interactive, inside and outside murder mysteries that made use of mobile devices in Denmark.

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