Marlon Vargas

Damals 1410

A digital, lifelike exhibition on media skills for children aged 8 and over.

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Damals 1410 is an exhibition by the Graz Children’s Museum FRida & freD and by the Young Museum Frankfurt, enabled by the Klaus Tschira Foundation.

More info about the project at:

FRida&FreD-Damals1410

Date

2024-2025

Purpose

Project at MESO

Work

UX Design

Art Direction

Game Design

Tools

Figma

Illustrator

Blender

Spline

Project

Damals is a playful exhibition where visitors complete tasks in nine media literacy categories to collect energy, earn a crest, and return to the future. Each station interactively teaches key topics such as data privacy, fake news, programming, and in-app purchases.

About the exhibit

The exhibnition consist of 24 stations and nine media skills categories. The logic and story behind the exhibition is the folllowing:

A journey through time

Visitors travel back to the year 1410 with a time machine, accompanied by a quirky inventor-rat. The time travel drains the machine’s energy, setting up the quest to recharge it.

Learning through action

In a medieval town, visitors complete interactive tasks at various analogue, digital and mixed stations. Each task blends historical crafts with modern digital challenges, teaching media literacy in playful ways.

Winning back the future

By completing stations, visitors collect energy, earn a crest and Mitcoins as well as learn the nine media skills. Once the time machine is recharged, they can return to the present.

My role in the project

When i joined the project, several aspects were already in place. My work consisted in integrating these with a new UI, better UX and new challenges. Here are my main contributions to the project:

UX / UI Design

I designed the main UI for the exhibition which is present in every station. Besides i designed the UI for the majority of the stations, worked with the developers and artists to create a consistent look and a joyful easy experience for the visitors.

3D & Game Design

One of my main responsibilities on the project was the Ox Cart Station, a 3D RPG game in which an ox transports items from one town to another. The game teaches children about location services, privacy and communication. I designed the 3D world and objects in the game, and also contributed to the game logic and art direction.

Art Direction + Graphic Design

As I joined the project midway through, I worked with the team to define the art direction for the UI and graphic assets, using existing elements. I worked on various 2D and 3D assets that were ultimately printed or displayed throughout the exhibition, such as the posters shown in the image.