Concept

Exhibiting stories in high-traffic aquarium corridors often presents a design dilemma. How do we create meaningful visitor engagement in a tight space? And how do we tell a story without relying on screens, Wi-Fi, or electrical wiring, which has a tendency to take visitors out of the moment?

Partnering with The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk, we developed a custom low-tech interactive exhibit slider. It explores the dramatic seasonal plumage transformations of Atlantic puffins and common murres.

Built for continuous hands-on play, the mechanical slider allows guests of all ages to physically reveal how these seabirds shift between breeding and non-breeding plumage, giving rich educational impact within a minimal physical footprint.

Process

To support the aquarium’s goal for an tactile, interactive display, our design focused on these design facets:

• Low-Tech, Screen-Free Interactivity: We engineered a completely self-contained mechanical slider that operates without electricity, screens, or Wi-Fi. This eliminates tech upkeep, power draw, and ongoing AV maintenance for aquarium staff.
• Compact, Small-Footprint Layout: This exhibit was custom-built for tight gallery walls and high-traffic walkways, making the most of the educational surface area while keeping the physical profile lightweight and wall-efficient.
• Low-Maintenance Durability: These sliders are constructed with commercial-grade, high-durability materials built to withstand tens of thousands of hands-on slides from daily aquarium visitors.