The Bubble Wall: A Collaborative Interactive Installation by Flagler Environmental Graphic Design Students

Recently, the students of Chris Smith’s Environmental Graphic Design class collaborated to produce an interactive installation piece that promotes stress relief.  Environmental Graphic Design can be defined as the combination of graphic design, signage, and art while taking into consideration architecture and interior design.  The students wanted to create awareness of this specialized field in graphic design by creating an interactive piece that reflects and mediates the stressful concerns of college art students. 

The students stimulated a process similar to an actual design agency by being encouraged to come up with their best proposal ideas while staying under a $200 budget monitored by the Creative Director.  The student who came up with the best proposal, voted by the entire class, oversaw the production, execution, and removal for the duration of the project.

The chosen proposal by class vote was Graphic Design Senior, Zack Lewis, who originated the idea for an interactive bubble wall that promoted stress relief.  The installation was constructed by covering an 8’ x 20’ wall in the Molly Wiley Art Building Lobby with large, white paper. Typographer and Graphic Designer, Keith Lowe, designed a logo mark that embodied the creative theme in a minimalistic, youthful manner which was painted onto the wall canvas by other students (Kasha Fahy, Ashley Madden, Tanis Montgomery, Mitchell Oliveira, and Sandy Chick). The wall was finally covered with bubble wrap to achieve it’s full interactive state. Photographer Matt Quann and cinematographer Kevin McDonald recorded the whole process, from production to the interactivity phase with frames captured every 60 seconds. 

According to the Sealed Air Corporation’s “Pop” poll stress survey, one minutes of popping bubble wrap proves stress relief equal to a 33 minute massage. So wander off from your easel or your computer once in a while and pop some bubble wrap to relieve overwhelming stress!