From backyards to stadiums, Australia’s love of sport is deeply embedded in our culture. How might we create an exhibition that celebrates everyone’s game? Game On! is the digital transformation of the Australian Sports Museum’s experience gallery. Users compete, collaborate and attempt to master 15 sporting experiences across surfing, cycling, netball, basketball, soccer, rugby league, rugby union, AFL, cricket, climbing, as well as some more abstract sports. Game On! is a fun and inclusive sporting environment for a range of ages and abilities.
I was the lead designer on the project, working across conceptual development and responsible for art direction, UX, and UI for 14 interactive experiences over one year.
The exhibition’s guiding principles are: Aussie, energetic, bold, playful and inclusive.
The inspiration came from the visual language of sport. Bold, contrasting colours and active graphics that harness movement and energy. The palette was drawn from sporting objects in the Australian Sports Museum’s collection.
The physical space is layered with a reactive visual world, infusing the experiences with surprise and delight at the unpredictability of each game. Working closely with the amazing Chris Edser, hundreds of animation assets were created for the exhibition. We went with a 2D style, to capture energetic movements in minimal frames, demonstrating power, momentum and humour.
In the Login experience, the base avatar is designed to be personalised with a diverse set of head, eye and mouth accessories to represent all Australians. There are 8000+ unique character combinations.
A user's avatar integrates into their gameplay, becoming an opponent, teammate, coach, commentator or fan in each interactive.
Client: The Australian Sports Museum
Studio: Grumpy Sailor
Illustrations: Chris Edser
