Bixbee Dazzles Crowds with an Interactive Tech Table

How do you create something fun and engaging for an audience of kids and their parents? That's just what Bixbee needed for a temporary pop-up to promote their latest line of youth backpacks and accessories. Here's what happened when our Media & Technology team partnered with event design company Kehoe Designs for this bespoke interactive installation.

The Challenge

Durability and safety are always paramount when designing and developing an experience for kids. It’s vital to consider how to keep both the guests and the equipment protected from high traffic and heavy use when the medium is a digital touchscreen table that requires a glass top and a source of electricity. Additionally, the project was slated for 3 weeks but due to its success, stretched out to 3 months, further highlighting the need for durability to support the longer timeframe.

Strategy

We considered several ideas to meet the client's goals, from video walls to projection-based experiences. We eventually decided on an interactive touchscreen table, which would provide a high level of engagement while being durable and tactile. The table was one of many pre-built prototypes in our Media & Technology lab – a space that allows clients to experience interactives in person, instead of starting from scratch with a new concept. From there, our team just needed to customize the content and expand the footprint to accommodate more users at once.

Design

Although much of the design for the touchscreen tables was already in place thanks to the prototype, we tailored the color scheme and the content for Bixbee and developed the software to accommodate multiple users across three tables. The screens were responsive to touch – drawing colorful, dynamic lines between users as they moved their hands across the surface. The visuals generated a sense of connection between users, creating a fun shared experience.

Production

With safety, durability, engagement, and user experience in mind, we used Gorilla Glass to provide a tough, scratch-resistant, shatterproof surface and Multi-Taction tracking screens to capture user movements. Each table generated content in real time, using 24 built-in cameras to transmit information via TUIO USC to Unity Game Engine. With user flow and safety in mind, they were installed on-site with all cables hidden to avoid tripping hazards and to accommodate large crowds.