Finding the story in statistics, bringing data to life.

The touring exhibition A Ticket to Paradise? examined the rich diversity of immigration into Australia, and the government encouragement of mass migration post World War II. It took visual archives and statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and transformed them into an interactive, human experience for the National Archives of Australia.

The exhibition design used official statistics, personal testimonies, photographs and memorabilia to tell the story of Australia’s development through migration. Visitors could contribute their own material directly into ‘the Globe’, or later via a companion website.

Gibson International created the interactive design, produced, and physically designed and constructed the two interconnected interactive displays in collaboration with TouchTech, and Australian design partners Thylacine and Interactive Controls. We provided additional custom technology, installation, and servicing.

In collaboration with local curators, we also produced a series of short videos featuring first-person accounts from immigrants to Australia that became leading items within the themed areas of the interactive experience design.

Our role

  • Museum consultants
  • Stakeholder and cultural engagement
  • Narrative creation
  • Experience design

Interactive designs encourage human connection through storytelling

‘The Globe’ housed 5 touch screens where visitors encountered an interactive time slider animating yearly migration patterns to Australia on a world map. Visitors could touch on a country or theme button to discover both curated and visitor generated stories. The content was constantly updated by also pulling contributed stories from a companion website.

Visitors within the exhibition or during facilitated workshops could also contribute using a custom-built iPad application, which prompted visitors to record a series of short videos.

These were automatically uploaded to the back-end server wirelessly, where they were compiled into a single video track and placed into the Globe interactive experience based on date, place and theme metadata. The video was then sent to the contributor’s email account where they could download and share it using social media.

Gibson International collaborated with

TouchTech (NZ), Thylacine (AUS), Interactive Controls (AUS)

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