Thinc

Invent a lighter shade of Blue

IBM was one of the first sponsors of Michael Eisner's Innoventions attraction at Epcot®, which sought to bring the excitement of the world's leading technology trade show, Comdex, to the general public. At the time, IBM was perceived as a business-to-business company with little direct connection to general consumers. IBM saw Innoventions as a major opportunity to build a new relationship with Epcot's millions of annual visitors.

Exhibition Planning and Design

5,000-7,000 square feet

Opened 1994, renewed in 1997, 2001

Epcot®; Lake Buena Vista, Florida

The first generation of the exhibition was mounted in a 5,000 square foot area at the outer edge of Innoventions. Thinkplace made computing more approachable to guests, emphasizing creative applications and children's software. It focused on three areas of emerging technology: mobile computing, scientific and graphical imaging, and the newly invented CD ROM.

Visitors lined up to take their pictures at the Face Factory, which utilized new morphing technology to change one person into another, projected onto a huge, three-dimensional head. Along with our client, Nancy Grover, we resurrected the Paul Rand "eye-bee-M" rebus logo for this exhibit. It later gained wide use in IBM's consumer computing division.

Laptop computers and IBM's Trackpoint were very new in the early '90's. Anthropomorphic casework drew people to these devices. It's hard to remember how cutting-edge they seemed!

When the initial 3-year lease expired, IBM moved to a larger, more central area of Innoventions. In a 7,000 square foot space, Solutions for a Small Planet focused on the emerging wonder of the Internet. Its main attraction was the PlanetRider, an immersive interactive space in which each of 14 players had a unique experience within a shared environment.

Reflecting the nature of the Internet commons, The PlanetRider utilized an innovative projection technique that Thinc subsequently patented.

Opposite the PlanetRider were exhibits that comprised a range of computers and software. To the left is an area for kids, which showed many different educational software applications. Note the purple fence. We're going there next.

Through holes in this fence, people were able to play with an animated puppy that responded to voice commands (most of the time) in six languages. The small hole above the larger one is to allow a second person to watch while someone else talks to the dog.

At the conclusion of the second 3-year lease, IBM chose to renovate the exhibit and broaden its scope to emphasize the spirit of invention that has driven the company since its inception. Changing the name back to ThinkPlace, we substantially altered the exhibition, increasing its playfulness, adding new elements, and repurposing PlanetRider as a game of invention.

The children's area became a more exuberant garden as the exhibit matured.

The PlanetRider was given new software and a new look and reborn as Think-a-ma-jig, a playful communal game in which players work together to build a submarine to retrieve treasure from the deep sea.