For the reopening of the National Museum of American History, Potion and C&G Partners designed an interactive table to accompany the Star-Spangled Banner display. The museum wanted visitors to have the opportunity to see, touch and explore the details of the flag. With the nearly 200-year-old flag’s delicate condition, this hands-on experience could only take place with an interactive design. Here, a high-resolution image of the flag is projected onto a 15 x 4 table, presenting a section of the flag at actual scale to reveal its intricate details.

Custom sensing technology recognizes visitors’ gestures, allowing them to easily activate information about the flag. One hundred and fifty “hot spots,” indicated by circles, are scattered across the flag’s surface. Touching a hot spot brings up a fact about the flag, such as why the material is torn in a certain place, what techniques were used during preservation, or why one of the original stars is missing. Visitors can also intuitively navigate to different areas of the flag. By holding their hand over the surface, they activate a graphic tool that can quickly push the flag in any direction.

Great use of scale; shows tremendous restraint. The use of multi-touch surface is well orchestrated.