A cornerstone of IBM’s centennial year celebration, “THINK: An Exploration into Making the World Work Better” was an exhibition experience that pushed the boundaries of technology as we know it. The goal of the project was to bring to life the ways in which people are making the world work better through innovation, and to engage people in some of the ideas around IBM’s Smarter Planet agenda. It was free to the public, drawing more than 25,000 diverse visitors—from heads of state to school kids—in its month-long run at New York City’s Lincoln Center.

The creative directors were first given a very broad brief from IBM, requesting a meaningful and significant expression of the brand to celebrate the company’s 100th anniversary. Diving deep into the history of IBM, the creative team recognized a legacy of inspiring widespread curiosity about science and technology. With the last big public expression of that position well in the past (the Eames and Saarinen–designed projects of the 1960s), the team believed that a free exhibit bringing to life some of the latest technologies would strike the right chord at this moment in time, when technology is more pervasive in our lives than ever before.

“THINK” was inspired by IBM’s Saarinen and Eames–designed 1964 New York World’s Fair Pavilion, which ignited widespread public interest in computing and set the stage for the technological revolution. Just as the pavilion presented complex scientific concepts of that era, “THINK” aimed to change today’s conversation about technology, focusing on how people can make the world work better through innovation.

Read the full case study with juror comments here: [http://www.aiga.org/justified-2012--case-study--think/]