After the Age of Dinosaurs
Who Lives? Who Dies? And Why?
Immersive Gallery Experience | Field Museum
My Role
Creative Direction
Projection Mapping
Story Development
Media Production
Cross-disciplinary Collaboration
Overview
Who Lives? Who Dies? And Why? is an immersive gallery experience within the After the Age of Dinosaurs exhibition that explores how different adaptations influenced which species survived the mass extinction that ended the Age of Dinosaurs. Through projection mapping, animation, and an environmental soundscape, the gallery extends the story introduced in the Impact Theater, creating a continuous narrative as visitors move through the exhibition.
Creative Challenge
The challenge was that the experience needed to feel visually connected to the exhibition's larger narrative while supporting a seamless transition from the Impact Theater into the gallery.
Design Approach
The gallery was conceived as a continuation of the Impact Theater, extending the exhibition's visual language beyond the theater walls. I developed the projection mapping surrounding the cutout monitors using a background animation created by Rachel Oftedahl, creating a seamless transition between the cinematic introduction and the gallery experience.
To tell the stories of who lived, who died, and why, I selected a cutout shadow box illustration style paired with minimal animation and text. This approach allowed complex scientific ideas to be communicated in a simple, accessible way that encouraged visitors to focus on observation and comparison rather than dense explanation. The limited animation style also supported clarity, ensuring that the scientific concepts remained legible for visitors of all ages.
Illustrator and animator Katrina Zimmerman created the animated species sequences displayed on the cutout monitors, translating evolutionary concepts into clear visual narratives. To maintain cohesion across the exhibition, the color palette of the illustrations was intentionally aligned with the broader graphic design system of the gallery, ensuring visual continuity between media, signage, and environmental design.
Animation
