When the doors to The Lab first opened in Midtown New York in 2012, the results far exceeded client expectations. As a space designed to be at the forefront of technological innovation, it was a given that The Lab be designed as a space that can adapt and refresh over time. In 2013, AT&T retained our team once again to help conceive and develop an enhanced and updated Lab experience that could extend and transform the foundational space, presenting the Lab as a living, breathing, ever-evolving environment.

The foundations we laid for the space in 2012 was the proof of concept. The results proved that the need for such an interactive and experiential space was valid and well-substantiated. The challenge now was to work within the constraints of the brick and mortar dimensions and hardware foundations to truly expand on what it meant to create an engaging, immersive and dynamic experience that gave the client not only the opportunity to update content effortlessly, but also provide them with the ability to create truly unique interactive experiences on the fly for any type of visitor.

We conceived a consistent two-way interaction mechanism between visitors and the many touch surfaces, allowing their interactions to shape the content throughout the experience. We materialized different user profiles into 3D printed icons and activated them with NFC sensors. As visitors enter the lobby, they select an icon from a collection representing various demographics, and they use it to activate insightful data experiences throughout the Lab. Additionally, by tapping the icons on the sensor trays at anytime, visitors could ‘like’ a piece of content and request more information.

Differentiating from the status quo of click-through product demos, we brought products and services to life in real-time using cross-device simulations that activated content across various screens, thus giving visitors a real-world demo of how these products and services actually work.

Credits

Client: AT&T Adworks
Production Company: SuperTouch group
Exec. Producer: Sam Ewen
Creative Director: Sheena Matheiken
Lead Technologist / Creative: Hai Nguyen
Lead Technologist / Hardware: Alpay Kasal
Sr. Producer: Christine Lane
Lead UX: Sheena Matheiken
Art Directors: Sougwen Chung & Marcin Zeglinski
Animators: Marcin Zeglinksi & Plenty NYC
Backend Development: Supertouch/IB5K

Film Credits

Director: Sheena Matheiken
Camera: Aymann Ismail
Editor: Aymann Ismail
Music: “Air Hockey Saloon” by Chris Zabriskie