I recently went to New York and visited the Cooper Hewitt Museum.

The museum has recently undergone major refurbishment in terms of exhibition design and layout. It also includes a new, interactive element that lets visitors collect information via a digital “pen”. Each visitor can then download and share the information. Exhibits are displayed in themed groups that can span across centuries, which makes for a very nice experiential journey and allows visitors to discover something new they wouldn’t have necessarily looked at otherwise.

One of the bigger digital installations was the “experience” room consisting of a large multi-user, multi-touch based interactive table displaying the whole wallpaper selection where users can browse and explore the collection and immediately display on the large walls. Users can also design their own wallpaper and project it realtime onto the walls.

Another interesting area was the “process lab”, where the way we design is explained and explored by allowing children and young people (the target market for this area) to play around with various materials, light and textures. It also features a digital interactive table where different items such as a waterproof jacket needs to be made more compact, so the user is tasked with sketching and sharing ideas.