Global Goals Hub: Designing a multilingual experience

I contracted with the exhibit design team at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry here in Portland, Oregon, to design an exhibit on the United Nations’ Global Goals for Sustainable Development. The movement’s 17 Goals represent ways that people can peacefully prosper with others and the planet. To make this exhibit as interactive, approachable, and equitable as possible, all text appeared in both English and Spanish. In producing the designs, I worked with their creative director, project manager, 3D designer, translators, and other staff to produce the 2D graphics and motion graphics for this section of the museum.

There were some challenges along the way—technical, logistical, and design-related.

One set of challenges related to the decision to go fully bilingual with Spanish and English text. How could we maintain equity and avoid one language becoming more dominant than the other? How could we use visual cues to quickly guide viewers’ eyes toward their language of choice? How could we fit everything on each panel? We solved these with a combination of user testing, consultation with staff DEIA experts, and maintaining strict design rules. Regarding the latter, for example, we consistently used certain colors to represent each language, which allowed users to predict subconsciously which content they needed.

There was also the challenge of expanding the vernacular of the Global Goals’ design guidelines, as that document was focused on print and web use, not experiential or motion and with no built-in support for multilingual uses.

In the end, the guidelines provided gave us enough of a headstart to project answers to the other questions that came up, and the UN’s Global Goals design managers approved our proposed uses. The exhibit opened up successfully and did so well with audiences, it even had its run extended. For my part, I was proud to have helped design an exhibit that was welcoming to so many people, and proposed some concrete ways we could all make a difference in our world and with the other people living here. Below are some images of the exhibit and a video of the motion graphics that appeared on the large LED “Welcome Wall."