Concept

We helped the Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm transform their extensive arhieve collection into an interactive museum display. Tasked with making vintage photography “enticing” for a modern audience, we designed a custom, touchscreen-based experience. Now, archival images from local history are reimagined through a contemporary social media lens.

Furthermore, by bringing 20th-century farm life into an “Instagram-esque” format, we created a digital bridge between Rochester’s heritage and today’s tech-native visitors.

Process

To deepen visitor engagement, we moved beyond a simple slideshow and developed a persona-driven touchscreen exhibit design. Our strategy included:

• Social Media Interface: We built a custom app that runs entirely on HTML, featuring an intuitive scrolling interface. Visitors can “like” photos by touching a heart on the screen. A functioning heart-counter tracks community favorites in real-time.

• Personality-Led Profiles: Next, we established distinct digital “identities” for the three women of Van Hoosen Farm. By categorizing their work—the fashion photographer, the pet enthusiast, and the world traveler—we turned static photos into relatable, character-driven narratives.
• Seamless Offline Integration: Finally, the interactive museum display is designed for high-traffic environments. It is fully responsive, auto-resizes to any screen, and runs entirely offline. This ensures 100% uptime within the museum’s permanent galleries.

Through this blend of historical preservation and modern UX design, Pendulee helped Van Hoosen Farm turn a “bevy of old photos” into a vibrant, community-engaged digital experience.

Click here to test out the interactive.