As part of DG8003 – Interaction Design for Digital Media, each student was asked to attend and critique three immersive design experiences outside of their immediate academic environment. The project is meant to promote the students finding and participating in professional events in their fields, while keeping a keen eye out for areas of improvement.
The events I chose to attend are the Watch Dogs: Legion game release, the Fisher-Price Museum, and the Adesanya VS Costa fight.
Fisher-Price (FP) has been a household name for toys for years – but did you know they just turned 90? In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, instead of celebrating nine decades of play in a formal museum, FP opted for a virtual display of their progression – The Fisher-Price Toy Museum.
"Visiting" The Museum
I think this project was done really well. Making a new Instagram account (@fisherprice.toymuseum), instead of running this event off their existing profile (@fisherprice), preserves the museum’s feed so it does not get muddled by day-to-day FP content and can be visited multiple times.
Each toy they are showcasing is displayed in its own photo, with a beautifully decorated background and accompanying props. The museum is split up chronologically, with themed exhibits per decade. Some of the posts are looped videos, which feel exciting and nostalgic, like watching the toy premiere in the Hudson’s Bay Christmas window.
I appreciate walking around a physical museum, and I think these would have been bright, playful, and inviting exhibits, but there is something comforting in the way I can relive my childhood from my own living room, through 101 Instagram posts. Scrolling through the nine decades of toys on my modern iPhone was a full-circle experience that I do not believe I would have felt, seeing the toys in person. The photo below struck me, in particular, because I remember playing with a similar “telephone” as a child and now it is as a relic of a completely different generation.
The whole experience was fun and promoted positive reflection on my past, which is more than I was expecting – but it is Fisher-Price, after all.
References
Fisher-Price. (2020, October 23). Fisher-Price Toy Museum. Retrieved December 02, 2020, from @fisherpricetoymuseum
